Esperanza Rising is a historical fiction book by Pam Munoz Ryan set after the Mexican Revolution and during the Great Depression of the United States. After Esperanza's father is way laid and killed by bandits, Esperanza and her mother lose everything when the untoward interest of her seedy Tio Luis turns to marriage shortly after. Tio Luis' attempt to force Ramona's hand in marriage culminates in a fire that destroys their home and crops. During the fire, Esperanza's grandmother is injured and forced to part ways with Ramona and Esperanza to recuperate with her sisters at a nunnery. In a desperate attempt to escape being forced to marry and loosing her daughter to boarding school, Ramona makes plans to secretly travel to the United States with her housekeeper, Hortensia, and her husband, Alfonso, who have plans to work as migrant farmers in California. Esperanza struggles to deal with the loss of her father and the reversal of fortune she faces. When the group, now including relatives of Alfonso's, reaches the San Joaquin Valley, they find bone-weary work awaiting them for pennies. Just when Esperanza thought she had lost everything, her mother falls sick after a dust storm and struggles to recover. In her determination to see her mother recover, Esperanza begins working in earnest.
It is Ryan's expertly developed characters that elicit emotional investment from the reader. From the start we feel the bond between Esperanza and her father, and the strength of love between Ramona and her husband. We are heart-broken with his death. Through her thirteen-year-old thoughts and words, we identify with Esperanza as a typical teen aged girl albeit one that has lead a sheltered life before her father's death. Her mother, Ramona, carries her through the whirlwind of events with dignity and affection that continues even as she struggles to work in the sheds packing grapes. Abuelita is a woman of strength and determination whose words and actions follow Esperanza in her thoughts that tell her, "Do not be afraid to start over." Miguel, Esperanza's childhood friend and Alfonso and Hortensia's son, is filled with quiet strength and determination. His conversations with Esperanza serve to guide her thinking about her actions and how her old attitudes no longer fit her new life.
Set in the Joaquin Valley farms during the early 30's, the setting serves to frame the changes in the lives of the Ortega women. Whereas they used to live on a ranch of a thousand acres, in a large house with a beautiful rose garden, their surroundings in California are barren despite the crops they harvest. Miguel has saved seedlings from the rose garden that serve as the only connection that exists between their old life in Mexico and their new life. Esperanza and her mother share a bed in housing that is packed with Alfonso, Hortensia, Juan, Josephina, and their three children. Dust storms rise up and swallow the landscape, the fields, and the workers leaving them in a film of white. The setting is as bleak as the possibilities for their futures working long hours with the difficulty of saving money.
Ryan's plot provides the catalyst for changes in Esperanza that transform her from the privileged daughter of a ranch owner to a hard-working capable teen aged girl determined to be the provider in her mother's time of need. After Ramona falls ill, they find that she is slow to recover and requires a stay in the hospital. Determined that her mother will get better, Esperanza believes that bringing Abuelita to the United States is what is needed to turn Ramona's health around. Though she is not old enough, Esperanza finds a way to become employed in the packing sheds and works her fingers raw to save her family.
This is one of the most heart-wrenching stories I've read in a long time and has become one of my favorites. Esperanza Rising is a highly regarded book and has received numerous awards including a Pura Belpre.
If you are interested in reading this book and finding it in a local library near you:
Link to "Esperanza Rising" in Worldcat
If you are interested in purchasing this book:
Link to "Esperanza Rising" at Amazon
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