A review by cdjdhj
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

3.0

As a young girls growing up as the only daughter of rich landowners in 1930s Mexico, Esperanza leads a wonderfully charming life. Things change drastically the day her father is killed and her despotic uncle demands that her mother marry him and send Esperanza away to boarding school. To escape her uncle's clutches, Esperanza and her mother flee Mexico and end up in California's Central Valley as farm workers. This book is their story. While the book itself if fictional, it has some basis in the real life story of the author's grandmother. I found this book to be somewhat interesting from a historical standpoint. I used to live in California's Central Valley, so it was good to learn more about the farm workers and their movement for better pay and working conditions. The author gives more information at the end about her our grandmother's true story and this historical facts in the book. This book was written for upper elementary age children, and in fact I think that at least one of my adult children read it when they were in grade school. My college age son was assigned the book for one of his college classes on the history of civil rights, which is why I decided to read the book.