Pam Muñoz Ryan is the award-winning author of over 40 books for new readers, middle-grade students, and young adults. Esperanza Rising (2000) is one of her most popular works and was honored with the 2001 Southern California Judy Lopez Award and the 2001 Arizona Young Adult Book Award. It also became a 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. Other titles by the same author include Riding Freedom (1998), Becoming Naomi Léon (2004), Paint the Wind (2007), The Dreamer (2010), and Echo (2015).

Esperanza Rising is categorized as children’s historical fiction. It is intended for readers in grades 3 through 7. The novel draws on Muñoz Ryan’s Mexican heritage and her memories of growing up in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The character Esperanza is based on Ryan’s grandmother and her experience as a migrant worker in a company camp during the Great Depression.

The story begins in 1924 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, but quickly skips forward to 1930 and covers events from autumn 1930 to autumn 1931. Most of the action takes place in a migrant worker camp in Arvin, California. The story is told using limited third-person narration from the perspective of 13-year-old Esperanza Ortega.

Esperanza begins life as the pampered only child of a wealthy Mexican landowner, but her world is shattered on her 13th birthday when her father is killed by bandits. She is separated from her grandmother and forced to flee to America with her mother to escape the clutches of greedy relatives. The author uses Esperanza’s transformation from a princess to a peasant to explore the themes about the true meaning of wealth, the importance of family, and how to embrace new beginnings in life.

The page citations in this study guide refer to the Kindle edition of the book.

Plot Summary

Esperanza Ortega lives a life of luxury on a ranch in Mexico with her father, mother, and grandmother. They are attended by their faithful servants, Hortensia and Alfonso. Their servants’ son Miguel has been Esperanza’s lifelong friend. On the eve of her 13th birthday, Esperanza proudly participates in the ritual of initiating the grape harvest. That night, she learns that her father and his men have been killed by bandits. Esperanza is devastated as are her mother, Ramona, and Abuelita, her grandmother. Her father’s greedy stepbrothers soon take control of the estate. Her uncle Luis tries to force Ramona to marry him by setting fire to the house and burning all the family’s possessions. Esperanza, Ramona, and Abuelita escape and take shelter with their servants, but Abuelita sprains her ankle and must stay at a local convent until she recovers.

Meanwhile, the servants smuggle Esperanza and Ramona out of the country, and everyone finds jobs as migrant farmworkers in the San Joaquin Valley. Esperanza has a terrible time adjusting to the hard work and cramped living conditions in her new home. She constantly laments the loss of her father and fortune until Ramona falls ill with Valley Fever. Fearing to lose her mother too, Esperanza steps up to the challenge and goes to work to earn enough money to bring her grandmother to California.

Esperanza’s troubles multiply when Ramona develops pneumonia. Meanwhile, other migrants are pressing to form a union and are threatening those workers who don’t want to join. Between union agitators causing trouble and a raid by the Immigration Bureau, Esperanza is terrified that she and her friends will be harmed or sent back to Mexico. Fortunately, Miguel finds a way to bring Abuelita to America and reunite her with Ramona and Esperanza. The novel ends on a hopeful note as Esperanza finally lets go of her lost past and looks forward to a better future for herself and her family.