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A review by jeremychiasson
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
5.0
Wow! I haven't read a kids book this good in a LONG time, and I read a lot of kids books. I didn't think Pam Munoz Ryan could top her superb novel "Echo", but "Esperanza Rising" actually makes Echo look mediocre by comparison. This is, without doubt, a contemporary classic.
"Esperanza" is riches to rags story about the young daughter of a wealthy landowner in Mexico who loses everything, and is forced to flee with her mother to the United States during the Great Depression. Over time, Esperanza becomes stronger and more resilient, and regains a sense of hope about life (her name literally means Hope in Spanish, which is probably a little heavy-handed for people who speak Spanish).
I really didn't want to read this kind of book, but once I sampled the opening passage about her father teaching her to listen to the land, I realized the prose was too beautiful to be denied. Ryan's language is gorgeously poetic, but it's also arresting in its simplicity.
So pick the damn book up, and at the very least read that opening chapter. You owe it to yourself! This is the sort of book that will make your heart grow three sizes in one day, Grinch style.
"Esperanza" is riches to rags story about the young daughter of a wealthy landowner in Mexico who loses everything, and is forced to flee with her mother to the United States during the Great Depression. Over time, Esperanza becomes stronger and more resilient, and regains a sense of hope about life (her name literally means Hope in Spanish, which is probably a little heavy-handed for people who speak Spanish).
I really didn't want to read this kind of book, but once I sampled the opening passage about her father teaching her to listen to the land, I realized the prose was too beautiful to be denied. Ryan's language is gorgeously poetic, but it's also arresting in its simplicity.
So pick the damn book up, and at the very least read that opening chapter. You owe it to yourself! This is the sort of book that will make your heart grow three sizes in one day, Grinch style.