Esperanza Rising

Mama looked at Esperanza. “Didn’t I tell you that Papa’s heart would find us wherever we go?” < The next morning, Hortensia p ...

she got in the tub and tried not to wiggle while Hortensia washed her. She’d tilt her head back, keeping her eyes closed, while ...

each other. I will unbutton the buttons you cannot reach and you will help Isabel, yes? Josefina, we need more hot water in thes ...

Isabel bent over and brushed her hair in the dry air. “Are you coming to the jamaica tonight?” she asked. Esperanza didn’t answe ...

are citizens,” said Isabel, helping shell the al- monds. “Her father came from Sonora during the revolution. They have never eve ...

cowboy hats, sat in chairs tuning their guitars and violins. Long rows of tables were covered in bright tablecloths where women ...

swaddled their infants, all of them swaying to the sounds of the small band. After a while, Esperanza left Mama and the others a ...

of a truck that was parked nearby, each of them holding up one of the tiny kittens. “This is what we are!” she yelled. “Small, m ...

stop working, if all the Mexicans are juntos, to- gether...” She made a fist and held it in the air, “...then maybe it will help ...

work, sometimes all over the state,” said Josefina. “They work wherever there is something to be harvested. Those camps, the mig ...

people are coming to the valley to look for work, especially from places like Oklahoma, where there is little work, little rain, ...

hundred people. The table was set with lace tablecloths, crystal and china, and silver cande- labras. The servants cooked for a ...

Esperanza snuggled close to her. Mama continued. “Tomorrow we are going to achurch in Bakersfield. After church, we are going to ...

Mama stroked Esperanza’s hair. “What will you pray for, Mama?” “I will pray for all the things you said, Esperanza, and one more ...

A sthey walked to the bus stop, Isabel recited alist of concerns to Esperanza, sounding ex- actly as Josefina and Mama had sound ...

the stove. Hortensia had prepared them earlier with a big onion and a few cloves of garlic and in- structed Esperanza to stir th ...

bottle, as directed, and when he fell asleep, she put Lupe next to him. Esperanza lay down, too, wondering why she was so tired, ...

by the door grew. They must be ill, worried Es- peranza. Did they have the flu or was it something they ate? No one else had bee ...

“Oh, Esperanza, they are too young for raw plums! Everyone knows that plums must be cooked for babies,” said Isabel. “Well, I am ...

The grapes had to be finished before the first fall rains and had to be picked rápido, quickly, so now there were no Saturdays o ...