Esperanza is a young, rich girl living a fairy-tale life in the 1930s with her wealthy parents, grandmother and servants, on a vineyard and ranch in Mexico, El Rancho de Ias Rosas. She lives an idyllic life surrounded by love and the comfort of tradition: watching the grapepicking, attending harvest fiestas, gathering bouquets of roses, and listening to Papa and the working men singing Las Mananitas on her birthday. Then one day, her world falls apart. Her Papa is killed by bandits and her greedy uncles will stop at nothing to seize their land. After watching her home burn, Esperanza and her mother know that their way of life is over and that they must flee to the United States, learning from their former servants how to work to survive. There they face back-breaking work, violence and discrimination, but through all the hardship, Esperanza discovers happiness, and the importance of friendship and family.

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published 2003 by Chicken House Ltd .

Pam Munoz Ryan is the recipient of the NEA's Human and Civil Rights Award and the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for multicultural literature. She has written more than thirty books which have garnered, among countless accolades, the Pura Belpre Medal, the Jane Addams Award, and the Schneider Family Award. Pam lives near San Diego. You can visit her at www. pammunozryan. com.