Short and Sweet: The House on Mango Street

After winning the lottery, Esperanza, a Mexican-American girl and her family purchase a small run-down house on Mango Street. They are relieved that they finally have a place of their own, rather than living in an apartment. Compared to their last homes, this is a pleasure to them. This house on Mango Street is in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Poor people are known to live here and Esperanza yearns for privacy, and to one day live in her very own home on the same street. This book covers one year of her life-Esperanza is about 12 when it begins. Throughout this one year, she experiences a lot of emotionally and physical development, such as her first crush and curvy hips. To help her deal with these thnigs, Esperanza begins to write. In addition, there are stories about her neighboors so the reader can get a clear picture of the neighborhood. Esperanza becomes friends with two Chinana girls, Lucy and Rachel who live across the street from her. The three girls include Esperanza's younger sister, Nenny in their fun like talking about boys and jumping rope. When in school, Esperanza feels self-consciense about her family being poor and how hard it is to say her name correctly. She keeps her poems a secret but shares them with trustful older women. The second half of the year begins when Esperanza becomes interested in boys. The death of her aunt and grandpa opens the adult world. At the begining of the school year, Esperanza befriends Sally who is sexually older than she is. Sally uses men to get away from her abusive father. Their friendship comes to a close when Esperanza gets harassed sexually by boys when Sally isn't with her. Because of all these hardships, Esperanza wants to leave Mango Street emotionally. But she realizes she will have to come back and help the women she grew clost to. For now, she stays on Mango Street and writing helps her get away emotionally, but maybe one day it will assist her in physically leaving. This book is only 110 pages and the chapters are extremely short, but it contains such a wonderful story with so much meaning and importance.

The Journey of Zeze the X

Ages 12 and up (Young Adults)
Written in vignettes, House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros portrays snapshots of a young Mexican girl's life. Esparanza Cordero is growing up in a rundown Latino area of Chicago. Life is sometimes harsh for a young girl with big dreams, when no one has great expectations of her.
Esparanza notices that many people in her neighborhood sit at windows longing to be free, often settling for disappointing lives with broken dreams. From the start Esparanza wanted more than a house with hallway stairs and crumbling red bricks. Esparanza does not want to belong in the worn-out neighborhood on Mango Street.
Esparanza is a powerful and insightful girl who depicts her childhood with satin scars and greasy cold rice sandwiches.

The House on Mango Street

A twelve year old girl, Esperanza, moves in to a hose on Mango Street with her family. Although this hose is not what she had dreamed of, it is an improvement to thier previous home. Throughout the year that this takes place, she matures a great deal. I enjoyed this book because it was interesting to read her different stories. It's not like a normal book with flowing chapters, it is made up of a bunch of short stories that keep you interested. It's an easy read, and probably won't tke that long because it is rather small.