Esperanza Ortega has a privileged childhood on a vast ranch in Aguascalientes, Mexico, with servants, parties, and a loving family. When her father is killed by bandits, her uncles try to take the land, and Esperanza and her mother flee to California. There they join a camp of migrant farmworkers during the Great Depression, and Esperanza, who has never done a day of manual labor, must learn to pick crops, accept her new situation, and care for her sick mother. Pam Munoz Ryan draws on her grandmother's story and structures chapters around the seasons of crops, such as grapes and potatoes.
It is a good read for middle-grade students and for classes on the Depression. Readers of all ages will find it moving.
Clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2002
- Publisher
- Scholastic en español
- ISBN
- 9780439398855
- Language
- ES
