"Esperanza Rising:" Hope in Dire Situations

My almost 11 year old daughter, Raina, devours books.

Every night, my husband and I have to get a little bit mean about her turning her light out to go to bed.  Many times she doesn't even hear our requests because she is engrossed in her books.  She usually replies with, "I just want to finish this chapter." And then when she gets to the end of that one, she just wants to finish the next chapter. Some nights she turns out her light and once we close our door, she turns it right back on so she can read some more.

We get angry, but we also totally understand because that's the way we are when it comes to books.

When Raina tells me a book is good and that I have to read it, I listen because she knows books.  She read Pam Munoz Ryan's "Esperanza Rising" at the beginning of the school year and after she finished it she said, "I really think you would love this one, Mommy.  It's really inspiring and beautiful."

I finally put it on the top of my "To Be Read" stack of books and tore through it in a day.  Raina was right; "Esperanza Rising" is a beautiful and inspiring book.

Written 15 years ago, "Esperanza Rising" won numerous accolades and awards after its publication including the Pura Belpre Award and Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year.  It tells the story of Esperanza, a wealthy 12 year old girl who lives with her beautiful mother and kind father in Aguascalientes, Mexico during the 1930s.  They are landowners with numerous servants and ranch hands at their service.  Esperanza's perfect world of dolls, roses and parties disappears when her father vanishes and is found murdered.  After Esperanza's evil uncles try to claim all that was her father's (even her mother), they escape with a few of their servants and immigrate to a farm in California where they are hopeful that life will be better.

But the harsh realities of life for Mexican immigrants greets them.  They share a small shack with their former servants, they are pushed to work all day long for meager wages, and they are stricken with illness and more hardships than they ever imagined.  From dust storms to union strikes, Esperanza grows up quickly in her new reality and needs to learn how to not only survive but how to provide for her ailing mother and save for her grandmother to be able to leave Mexico and join them.

Written in lush details that pay homage to the land and it's abundance and fury, "Esperanza Rising" was both educational and magical.  I never doubted Esperanza's strength and fortitude in the face of struggle.  She learned and adapted quickly.  It isn't just Esperanza's story that was engrossing.  The supporting characters are equally believable and strong.  Miguel's undying hope for a new beginning even against all odds, and angry Marta who fights for what is right even to her own detriment show the struggles that immigrants faced during the Great Depression and the racism that faced them then. Sadly, many of the same obstacles remain today.

I loved this book, and I know that many other children and adults will love it as well.  Although it was written for a young audience, adults (like me) can truly appreciate the symbolism, the artistry and the story of hope.

While I was reading "Esperanza Rising" Raina asked me a few times what I thought.  I told her, "It's beautiful and inspiring just like you said it would be."

"All the Bright Places": Suicide and other dangers of young love

The unlikely romance of Finch (also known as Theodore Freak) and Violet Markey begins when they meet on the bell tower of their school.  Both are contemplating suicide for different reasons.  Since the death of her older sister in a tragic car accident 9 months earlier, Violet who was once popular and  vibrant with a promising writing career ahead of her, cannot move forward in her life.  She can't get into a car, or shake the feeling that it's her fault that her sister died.  Finch who is mercilessly bullied at school by the in crowd, struggles to regulate his bipolar system.  Recovering from a recent bout of depression, his mania takes him to the ledge where he welcomes the spectacle of the on lookers below.  It's only when Finch sees Violet's struggle and talks her down from the ledge that he finds a reason to live, but it's not exactly clear who saves who and for how long.

Their relationship solidified by fear, the prospect of death, and the heroism of being saved, develops even deeper when their teacher assigns a "get to know the culture in Indiana" project and Finch chooses Violet to be his partner in discovery.  Violet who is reticent at first starts to fall for the unpredictable, poetic, charming, and dangerous Finch who quotes Virginia Wolfe and can recite "Oh, the Places You'll Go" and has musical talent AND has a quirky sense of style.  Violet learns to let go of the past and start to live in the present, and Finch learns that life can feel good.

Yes, this book is charming, and yes, teenage girls will swoon over the the seductive and dangerous Finch who is a cross between Augustus in "The Fault in Our Stars" and Bender in the movie "The Breakfast Club." So much works in the book, that it's easy to overlook what doesn't work - like Jennifer Niven's heavy handed attempt to create a school world where Finch is less than acceptable (and somehow this doesn't make any sense since he is so very charming, kind hearted, intelligent and good looking).  Although there is  a quick explanation of how Roamer and Finch were once good friends until something happened, it doesn't support the continuance of the behavior.  And speaking of heavy handedness - having suicide, bipolar disorder, a tragic accident, abuse, bullying, sex, a mean girl, neglect, and divorce all in one book made this book feel unnecessarily complex at times.  The supporting characters from Finch's dad and step-brother to Amanda, the mean girl in school, to the too wonderful ex-boyfriend, Ryan, to the supportive friend, Brenda . . . all of them started to feel like too much.

Having said all of that, I still think that teenage girls will love this book and see the deeper side of it - the will to live vs. the will to die, and how depression is an illness that takes over people's lives even when things are good.  (Just an FYI: The movie rights have already been purchased and Elle Fanning (from Malificent) is slated to play the role of Violet).

I appreciate Niven's attempt to create an edgier storyline in the same vein as Rainbow Rowell's "Eleanor & Park" and Jay Asher's "13 Reasons Why." Having witnessed the abrupt shifts that those with bi-polar disorder struggle with and how powerless loved ones feel in the wake of the mood hurricanes, I also appreciate Niven's focus on the dangers of this disease.  Finch's first person narration on the depths of his depression and then his mania during what he calls "the awake" make it clear that balance does not exist without treatment for bi-polar disorder.

There's still a part of me that wanted this storyline to be a little bit cleaner - more of the discovery of the self while searching for the beauty in the unlikely landscape of Indiana, more about the love between two broken people who can help make each other better through shared pain and understanding and rediscover what living in the present is all about.  Because I taught in high schools for 15 years, I sometimes wonder if those who are writing about high school romance, friendships, issues and enemies have taken the time to actually go into a high school and observe how things really are.  Most students will tell you that authors and movie makers get it all wrong, that realistic fiction isn't really realistic at all, that although there is drama, it's rarely as horrible as it's depicted in movies, that their daily lives are so much more simplistic.  What I do love about Niven is that she touches on the truth even if she stereotypes at other times.  Her writing is good enough, though, to forgive the cliches and the oversights and the heavy handedness to create something that teens are sure to eat up like candy.