Esperanza Rising

FROM SARAH:

I love this book! It's a beautiful coming-of-age story about resilience, set first in Mexico and then in California's San Joaquin Valley during the Great Depression. The audiobook is especially well done. This one gets intense (and there is a death in the family), so I recommend it for ages 10+. It's beautifully done.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a young girl could want: fancy dresses; a beautiful home filled with servants in the bountiful region of Aguascalientes, Mexico; and the promise of one day rising to Mama’s position and presiding over all of El Rancho de las Rosas.
But a sudden tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. There they confront the challenges of hard work, acceptance by their own people, and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression.  When Mama falls ill from Valley Fever and a strike for better working conditions threatens to uproot their new life, Esperanza must relinquish her hold on the past and learn to embrace a future ripe with the riches of family and community.