Esperanza Rising

Esperanza Rising
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
Publisher: Blue Sky Press
ISBN-10: 043912042X
ISBN-13: 978-0439120425

Winner of the 2001 Pura Belpre Award, Esperanza Rising is a magical riches to rags story of Esperanza Ortega, a young girl growing up in Mexico. Esperanza’s father is a rich landowner and the life she leads is one of privilege unlike her friend Miguel the son of servants.

When Esperanza’s father is killed by bandits her evil and powerful uncles impose themselves on the property and on Esperanza’s mother. They are determined to keep the ranch and try to force Esperanza’s mother to marry one of the uncles. When she refuses, they set fire to the family home endangering everyone and forcing Esperanza and her mother to flee with the servants. They leave everything behind and start anew in the farm camps of the United States during the Depression.

While her mother handles her changed circumstances with dignity and grace, Esperanza has a hard time adjusting. The work in camps is hard, her life is so different and it’s hard for her to take. The other girls in the camp think she is spoiled but she does manage to make some friends.

Ryan uses the experiences of her own Mexican grandmother as the basis for this compelling story of immigration and assimilation, not only to a new country but also into a different social class. It’s an amazing story of grace, honor, determination and hope.

The Tequila Worm

My compañeros over at La Bloga had the pleasure of announcing The Tequila Worm winning the Pen Award. It is my pleasure to review it.

I fell instantly in love with this book and with Sofia, the main character. The stories in The Tequila Worm are heart-warming and lovely. There were so many little things that I loved about it, that it's hard to write about just a few without giving away the whole book.

The book is about Sofia, a young girl living in a poor Mexican barrio. She has an amazing family that is rich in tradition, love and wisdom. Her strong community teaches her many things, all designed to make her a comadre, a title of honor within her barrio. Being a comadre is something sacred to aspire to, it is being a woman and more, that spiritual extra that imbues the Mexican/Chicana woman. Sofia has many role models and wonderful people to teach her the important things she needs to know on her road to becoming a comadre. I fell in love with the Storyteller Clara and her bag. The tradition of storytellers is one that is so precious and necessary in our culture that it was a deep pleasure to see how important it was in this book.

Sofia struggles as many of us do with fitting in, wanting more, leaving the barrio and going against the traditions that mean so much but, because we live here in these times, we often need more. I was touched by how she fought for what she wanted, needed but cared so much about how those wants and needs would affect those around her.

This is a tremendous book and so much more than just stories about a girl who lives in a barrio. These are life lessons and one of those books that will make it to my long list of favorites that I read again and again.

I'm thankful I read it and so thankful to those publishers that take the gamble, publish something that isn't the typical and in doing so enrich the world with books like these that benefit us all and teach us that we are all not so different.

The Tequila Worm is Viola Canales first book and has also won the Pura Belpre Award. Keep writing Ms. Canales, we need you.