Esperanza Rising

This is an okay book written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and based on true events. 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.

During the 1920s nearly half a million illegal Mexicans came to the U.S. Mexicans accounted for 56% of California's agricultural labor force. In the 1930s, California's population was 88% white. Today, whites only make up a plurality of the population at 42% compared to 36% for Hispanics. Esperanza means ‘hope’ in Spanish.