Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, is a wonderful story about challenge, fear, sadness, and happiness.
Esperanza, the main character is a young teenage girl. She lived in Mexico with her mom, dad and her servants. Esperanza was a rich spoiled girl who wore beautiful dresses.
The tragedy began. Her dad died and her house caught on fire. They moved to California. They lived in a camp and became peasants. Esperanza had to learn that life isn’t about being rich with beautiful clothing and a beautiful house, but that life is about being with the ones you love, while you still have them.
Pam Munoz Ryan did a great job with this book. The details she gave were fantastic. I especially liked the sad detail she gave when Papa had died, how everyone fell to the ground crying. Pam had a great way of making the pictures pop into our head. I could definitely see Esperanza’s dried, cracked hands, and I could picture her scrubbing the diapers on the washboard. Pam did a nice job explaining momma’s sickness. She really had me wondering if momma was going to live from her suffer of phenomena. Also, there was times in the book that I just couldn’t stop reading. For example, I couldn't wait to find out if momma was going to be okay, and I was wondering if in the end Esperanza and Miguel were going to fall in love.
One thing that I didn’t enjoy was how bad things kept happening! Papa died, there house caught on fire, they had to move and become peasants, and momma got really sick. It was pretty depressing. She could have made it so that Papa had lived, and they all moved to California together, but I guess that would defeat the purpose of the book. Over all, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who is “not afraid to start over.” In other words, anyone who would enjoy challenge, sadness, and happiness all in one book.