Module 5 – Esperanza Rising

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Ryan, P. M. (2000). Esperanza rising. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Summary —

The Pura Belpré Award-winning novel by Pam Muñoz Ryan tells the tale of Esperanza Ortega, the only daughter of a wealthy Mexican land-owner who faces several challenges after her father is killed by bandits.  Their house catches on fire and Esperanza and her mother are forced to flee Mexico with almost nothing but the clothes on their back.  They rely on the assistance of Alfonso and Hortensia, who had been servants in her father’s ranch; Alfonso has family in California and now that the ranch is in ashes, their family plans to migrate North.  Esperanza’s mother is tries to make the best of a bad situation and encourages Esperanza to be grateful for what they still have: each other. At first, Esperanza takes care of the children while her mother works in the California farm fields. But after her mother gets sick, Esperanza has to shoulder the responsibility of her mother’s medical costs, so she joins as a farm hand. Alone and apart from her grandmother, Esperanza grows up a lot throughout the course of the book.  At the beginning of the book, she is a spoiled and sheltered rich girl who is afraid to let grubby little peasant children touch her favorite doll.  But by the end of the book, she has learned humility and the value of family, hard work, and generosity.  At one point in the novel, she gives her prized doll and last gift from her father to Isabel to distract her from the disappointment of not winning Queen of the May because she was a poor Mexican girl. She also gives away a piñata that she had planned to give to her mother to a group of poor children whose parents were planning to go on strike. She recognizes that as hard as she may have it, there are always those who have it worse. At the end of the novel, her mother and grandmother are reunited with Esperanza, her mother released from the hospital after a long stay and her grandmother escorted from Mexico by Miguel, Alfonso and Hortensia’s son.

Lucien’s thoughts —

This was a very pleasant book to read since the main character undergoes such a great amount of change as she faces more and more adult challenges in her life.  The story maintains a sense of hope through adversity, and Esperanza is able to hold on to hope that her grandmother will one day rejoin them. She works hard to achieve that goal and her struggle is rewarded at the conclusion of the book.  I also thought it was interesting that the titles of the chapters are named after the Spanish words for significant produce that are part of that chapter’s story.  It helps ground the narrative in way field workers tell time: by the agricultural product of the seasons rather than the names of the months. One thing that I did find a bit annoying was the repeated use of Spanish words followed by their English meanings.  I know Ryan was just trying to capture some of the cultural flavor of life of a Mexican immigrant, but I found the practice slightly off-putting.  That’s a minor quibble for an otherwise interesting book that highlights the difficult conditions that existed for Mexican farm workers in California during the time of the Great Depression.

Librarian’s use —

I think this novel would be a great springboard for a talk on the farm labor movement and the history of farm unions.  Perhaps the librarian could collect other books that are thematically linked to Cesar Chavez and the founding of the National Farm Workers Association.  While Chavez’s work comes from a later point in time, its roots can be traced to the strikes alluded to in Esperanza Rising.

Another possible idea is to gather together books about the Dust Bowl era and the migration of many people from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri to California. This book touches on the waves of the desperately poor who went out West to California in search of jobs in the 1930s; it wasn’t just Mexicans who looked for farm labor.

Other reviews —

Burke, L. (2000). Esperanza rising. Reading today, 18 (2), 32.

When her mother falls seriously ill and the economic reality of the Depression threatens her already tenuous ability to earn a living, Esperanza realizes that if she is ever going to thrive she must stop coveting her past and be willing to embrace the riches that lay within her grasp: love, respect, and the chance to create a future of her own design. Written with an uncommon understanding of the plight of Mexican farm workers, this passionate novel gives a human face to an issue that has historically been discussed in terms of the price of fruits and vegetables instead of the cost of human lives.

Freeman, J. (2000). Esperanza rising. Instructor, 110 (4), 20.

Born into a prosperous ranching family in Mexico, Esperanza lives a life of privilege and plenty until the eve of her 14th birthday in 1924, when her adored Papa is murdered by bandits… Mama accepts gratefully the help of two former servants to cross the border into California to work on a farm. They escape by wagon and train, proper Esperanza horrified as she observes the poor, dirty peasants with whom they are traveling. She is even more appalled at her new home, a company camp of cabins that remind her of horse stalls, and a new life spent picking crops in the San Joaquin Valley. Based on the life of the author's grandmother, this moving and involving novel deals with the overwhelming hardships faced by Mexican migrant workers-and the love and pride that helps them survive.

Stevenson, D. (2000). Esperanza rising. Bulletin of the center for children’s books, 54 (4), 160.

Though the piquant riches-to-rags element will draw readers, there's no authorial condescension towards Esperanza's campesino fellow workers, and Esperanza's gradual shedding of her own prejudices towards them is perceptively delineated. The discussion of the strike isn't one-sided, though the book does support Esperanza's decision to keep working, and there's some edifying information about the heterogeneousness of the Latino population in the workforce and their forced repatriation and even migration (some U.S. citizens were sent to Mexico as well). Wide-eyed but thoughtful Esperanza makes an attractive agent for these discussions, and her inevitable pairing with Miguel (who took her saved money in order to bring her beloved grandmother from Mexico to join the family) provides both a touch of romance and an illustration of what Esperanza has gained by coming north.

Module 4 – A Wrinkle in Time

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L’Engle, M. (1962). A wrinkle in time. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.

Summary —

The Newbery Award-winning novel by Madeleine L’Engle tells the tale of Meg Murry, little brother Charles Wallace, and classmate Calvin O’Keefe as they travel through space and time to rescue Meg’s missing father, physicist Dr. Murry.  The three children are aided by what first appear to be three witches, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, who later reveal themselves to be angelic creatures of untold age who have simply taken human form for the sake of interacting with the children.  Through a folding of space/time, which the novels calls a tesseract, the three children are first taken to a planet Uriel, filled with centaur-like beings of incredible beauty, where the three ladies revel that there is a dark being who battles goodness and light, and that their father is to be found in a planet that is under the control of The Black Thing.  They learn that Earth is planet that is partly covered by this dark cloud, but luminaries from Earth’s philosophers, artists, and great religious figures have all struggled against it.  The three children then travel via tesseract to Camazotz in search of Dr. Murry.  There, they discover a dystopian world where all inhabitants live and work in perfect harmony with the mind which controls everything on the planet and which completely stomps out all things which are not in harmony with the hive mind. At the center of the capitol is CENTRAL Central intelligence, where the three children meet a man with red eyes, a human emissary for the mind in control of the planet.  Charles Wallace then allows himself to be taken over by this external force, and under its power takes Meg and Calvin to where Dr, Murry is held captive. Meg is able to rescue her father, and all of them follow Charles Wallace to meet the source of the mind control, a large disembodied brain called IT. Dr. Murry is able to tesseract with Meg and Calvin in tow, but they leave Charles Wallace behind, because ripping him out of control from IT would have done him mental harm.  The three land in a neighboring planet, Ixchel, where the inhabitants are sightless, tentacle beasts who prove to be wise and welcoming of the wayward humans.  One of them, which Meg calls Aunt Beast, nurtures her back to health, since she was frozen and nearly killed by the darkness which engulfs planet Camazotz.  Mr. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which arrive on Ixchel and task Meg with rescuing her brother from the dark grip of IT.  She comes armed with the one thing IT doesn’t have, love.  Once Meg realizes that she still has her love of her little brother, she focuses on all her love for Charles Wallace, and breaks his connection with the darkness. Once Charles Wallace is free, Mrs. Whatsit tesseracts all four humans back to Earth, where Dr. Murray is reunited with his family.

Lucien’s thoughts —

This was a book that I loved reading when I was a child, and have only recently re-read for this class.  Now, as an adult, I think I can explain why this book was so influential, to me and to so many others.  First of all, it’s protagonist is a child who is struggling to find out who she is; Meg is beset by self-doubt and feelings of being an outsider, not quite as smart as her genius younger brother Charles Wallace nor as able to blend in as her more normal twin brothers Sandy and Dennys.  She perfectly captures that awkward no-man-land that is so common a feeling at that age, beset by anger and stubbornness and a general emotional immaturity.  She has started to lose the innocence of youth, but doesn’t quite yet have the maturity and self-confidence of young adulthood.  She misses her father and is quite aware of the various rumors that surround his disappearance. Though rather bright, she doesn’t do very well in school, where her nonconformist ways keep getting her in trouble.  She is an all-too-relatable character for a young reader, and through her, L’Engle is able to make the reader invested in the novel’s adventures to rescue her father.  Later, when Meg is recovering from her brush with the darkness, she is filled with anger and resentment that Dr. Murry was unable to save her little brother, Charles Wallace.  It’s obvious that some of her negative feelings are lingering effects of her contact with evil.  But nevertheless, she voices the fears and frustrations that accompany readers of that age, as they are starting to have conflicts with their own parents and starting to become aware that they are flawed and imperfect human beings.  Meg engages the reader, and provides a platform for L’Engle to connect with her audience. Thus we celebrate when Meg is able to take all her flaws and strength to defeat the darkness with something as simple as love for her sibling.  She is able to remember the love that she has felt from all her relationships (Mother, Father, Mrs. Whatsit, Aunt Beast, etc.) and focus it on pulling back her little brother from the grips of IT. L’Engles book is a celebration of all the things that make us unique, yet still embraces our common struggle against the dark that surrounds us.

Librarian’s use —

Some of the most memorable parts of A Wrinkle in Time are the otherworldly characters introduced: the centaur creatures of Uriel, the tentacle beasts of Ixchel, the red-eyed man at CENTRAL Central intelligence, and the horrible disembodied brain IT. Ask the students to draw their favorite non-human character using the descriptions found in the text of the book.  Display all the different interpretations of the creatures illustrated.

Another possible idea is to use A Wrinkle in Time to explore astronomy.  Bring in illustrations of the Milky Way galaxy and other pictures of other stars; bring in charts of our own solar system.  Discuss the distances involved in interplanetary travel as depicted in the novel.  Discuss how it is that Mrs. Whatsit is able to tesseract across galaxies, while Dr. Murry is barely able to tesseract between neighboring planets, and how vast the differences in travel distance there is between the two. Ask the audience to consider why it is that one is able to travel so much further.

Other reviews —

A legend in time. (2007). Scholastic scope, 56 (8), 5.

Never quit doing something you love. That's the lesson Madeleine L'Engle learned after 26 publishers rejected her novel, A Wrinkle in Time (1962)… When she finally found a publisher, A Wrinkle in Time became one of the most popular young adult novels ever! Today, critics still extol L'Engle for her lovable characters and cool blend of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure… "Why does anybody tell a story?" L'Engle once asked. Answering her own question, she replied, "It has to do with faith that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically." For the millions of people who continue to fall in love with her stories, that couldn't be more true.

Livingston, N. (2003). A wrinkle in time. The reading teacher, 57 (1), 100.

This book was awarded the 1963 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children, so it is ironic that the manuscript was rejected 26 times before it was published. The honor of the medal marked the first time in history that juvenile science fiction-in the story of three children transported from Earth to another planet-was accepted into mainstream children's literature. Written during the Cold War era of nuclear threat and the space race, A Wrinkle in Time delves into the world of space and time travel in the mid-20th century, taking the reader on a journey of the unexplored. L'Engle realistically portrays adolescent anxieties related to physical appearance, family relationships, and one's search for identity. There will always be a Meg, a Charles, or a Calvin inside every reader asking the same guestions: Do I matter? Does anyone care? In A Wrinkle in Time, they find out they are not alone in their pursuit of self-discovery.

Mattson, J. (2007) A wrinkle in time. The booklist, 103 (18), 58-59.

One need only look at lists of Newbery Medal winners in the decades prior to Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time to recognize the novelty of the 1963 committee's choice. Even today, the relative scarcity of youth science fiction is reflected in more recent crops of medalists; how much more surprising, then, that the historical and realistic stories dominating the pre-1963 Newbery Medalists came to be joined by a book involving tesseracts, theoretical physics, and, perhaps most startling of all, a heroine at a time when male characters like Tom Swift were most strongly associated with children's sf…

In hindsight, it's not so difficult to imagine why the time was ripe for A Wrinkle in Time; having been released the same year as the Cuban missile crisis, and in the thick of the race to land a man on the moon, a novel that projected youngsters into space to fight a looming "Dark Thing" must have plugged directly into children's most immediate interests and concerns…

But many novels that precisely fit their moment eventually age into quaint set pieces, while Wrinkle has endured through 69 hardcover printings (and numerous paperback, audio, and audiovisual formats) to enjoy its forty-fifth anniversary this year…

Indeed, in an era of No Child Left Behind controversy, L'Engle's comments in her Newbery acceptance speech have the same timeless resonance as her fiction: "There are forces working in the world as never before in the history of mankind for standardization, for the regimentation of us all, or what I like to call making muffins of us, muffins all like every other muffin in the muffin tin."

Its resistance to conclusions that pop fully formed from the muffin tin may be one of the secrets to A Wrinkle in Time's resilience-that, along with its perennially reassuring message about the ability of frail humans to avert doomsday. As Voiklis reflected, "Wrinkle doesn't offer answers, but I think it does offer people who are trying to understand their place in the universe a model for how to ask questions, and how to listen, and how to live joyfully in the midst of struggle."

Module 2 - Mr. Popper’s Penguins

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Atwater, R. & Atwater, F. (1938) Mr. Popper’s penguins.  (R. Lawson, Illustrator). Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co.

Summary –

Mr. Popper is a house painter who loves reading about foreign places. Although he has never left his hometown of Stillwater, he’s fascinated with tales of expeditions to the earth’s poles.  One day, his life is turned upside down by a strange package from the South Pole, which he receives from Admiral Drake. Inside, he finds a penguin who he names Captain Cook. The book follows the adventures of the Popper family as they adopt Captain Cook and later a female penguin named Greta. The two penguins eventually turn to twelve, as the couple’s eggs hatch new chicks.  Mr. and Mrs. Popper and their two children, Janie and Bill, all have an exciting winter as the family adapts to a life of daily adventures with the penguins. However, the Poppers discover caring for a flock of Antarctic fowl can be very expensive.  They decide to train the birds to perform and soon find themselves touring North America to pay the bills. As the cooler months end, Mr. Popper faces the realization that his flock of Mr. Popper’s Performing Penguins will not easily weather the summer. He decides to help Admiral Drake and his North Pole expedition, hoping to bring the Antarctic birds to an Arctic environment.

Lucien’s thoughts –

The writing in this book uses clear and simple sentences to tell its imaginative story of a man whose daydreaming leads to a real-life adventure.  It introduces a large number of new vocabulary terms that younger children may not yet know.  It’s a chapter book and would lend itself very well to being read aloud a chapter at a time to children that can’t yet master reading it by themselves; each chapter has enough exciting adventures to fill a story-telling, yet they often end in enough of a cliff-hanger that readers will want to continue on to the next chapter.  The premise of the book is just silly enough that it will make children laugh, yet grounded enough in reality that children will learn about the habits of penguins and real life explorers.  For an example of a silly thought taken to absurd conclusions, the Poppers start out by giving over their refrigerator to Captain Cook and end up converting their whole basement into a frozen habitat for the growing family of penguins.  When the Poppers decide to train the penguins for a show, Mrs. Popper plays tunes on the piano, but is forced to learn to play with gloves on, since it’s so cold.  The book is full of silly little touches like that, which are sure to make younger children giggle.  I really enjoyed reading this book, often laughing at the vivid descriptions of the odd scenes that take place when penguins intrude in places where no penguin has gone before (e.g. Stillwater’s Main Street, the barbershop, fine hotels).

As far the illustrations go, the black and white pictures are done in a realistic style, which I honestly found to be a little uninspired.  There are several full page illustrations, as well as illustrations that take up only half a page or less.  The pictures depict the story, with very little extra detail, so while they reinforce the story, they don’t actually add much to the book. I will concede, the illustrations do a good job of showing Mr. Popper’s transformation from untidy house painter to well-dressed stage performer, by showing how his clothing and general neatness improve.  The illustrations also provide reasonably realistic images of the penguins, rather than stylized or cartoony depictions of the animals. In general, the images are serviceable, but not too much more than that.

Librarian’s use –

I think one of the ways to bring this book to life in a library is to use globes and maps to explore some of the places mentioned in the story.  Mr. Popper is fascinated with explorations of places he has never been to, like the North and South Pole.  Later, he tours various cities in North America. He even names the penguins after famous explorers, so it might be useful to discuss with a map places that were discovered by Horatio Nelson, Christopher Columbus, Robert Scott, and Ferdinand Magellan.  The children can then be asked to find on a map different places that they and their families have visited, pointing out that they, too, can explore new places.

Other reviews—

Jones, M. (October 9, 2004). Review a day – Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater review by Powells.com. Retrieved from http://www.powells.com/review/2004_10_09.html

It's time for comfort reading. Something light. Something frivolous. Something completely irrelevant to Iraq, the economy, health care, the environment, or anyone or anything from Texas or Massachusetts. For some, that might mean a moody spy thriller, or a trashy celebrity bio, or a stirring historical romance. Others will find solace in astronomy or bugs or food (though Martha Stewart fans may be at a disadvantage this year). For me, it's penguins.

Even as a little boy, I loved penguins. Who doesn't? They waddle. They toboggan. They squawk. And those little black suits! Come on America, we love black and white. What's not to love?

That's why this month I'm recommending one of my favorite childhood books, Mr. Popper's Penguins. I hadn't read Mr. Popper's in about three decades, but recently stumbled across a copy and enjoyed it like I was eight-years-old all over again. And let me tell you. It's a lot more fun than the Hitler biography I've been working my way through for the past two months. The story is simple. Mr. Popper is a common house painter who secretly longs to travel to Antarctica with Admiral Drake (and what bored house painter doesn't?). So he sends his hero a long adoring letter. The Admiral is so impressed, he not only responds, he sends Mr. Popper a gift: one adult penguin (named Captain Cook). Soon, Mr. Popper receives a second gift, a mate for the Captain, and, by the end of the chapter, baby makes twelve. The Poppers turn their gaggle of penguins into a traveling stage act and become rich and famous. The story has charming illustrations by Robert Lawson and is told with a subtle wit reminiscent of E. B. White.

Still, this title is not right for every reader. Originally published in 1938, Mr. Popper's Penguins is somewhat outdated. For starters, in the final chapters, Admiral Drake returns to the US and asks Mr. Popper to join him on a trip to the North Pole. The North Pole doesn't have penguins, and he wants Mr. Popper to bring his troupe along and introduce them as a seed population. An obvious environmental faux pas. You can bet Tipper Gore wasn't reading this title to her youngsters. Far more disturbing, though, is the scene toward the end of the story where Mr. Popper is approached by a big Hollywood producer. By this time Mr. Popper's Penguins have become quite famous, so the producer, hoping to make a buck, offers the Poppers a lucrative film contract. After careful deliberation, Mr. Popper decides that the well-being of his Penguins is more important than money -- or Hollywood! -- and turns him down. Naturally, some parents may find this a disturbing message for impressionable young readers and might prefer a more commerce-friendly title. But quibbles aside, Mr. Popper's Penguins is an established classic that will delight readers of all stripes -- especially those looking to avoid any mention of red and blue.

Gelman, P. Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Book review. Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/mr-poppers-penguins

Mr. Popper’s Penguins is one of those classic childhood books that kids always remember. The chapter book's witty dialogue (albeit with dated language), clever characters, and an ethical predicament make this book as enjoyable today as in the 1930s. Many teachers today use it as part of their language arts curriculum. Mr. Poppers Penguins is a good fit for most first- and second-grade readers, and can be read aloud to kindergartners. Though the book was written in 1938, Mr. Popper was ahead of his time for progressive parenting, letting his kids leave school to help him take the penguin act on the road. He also treats his wife with respect, giving her voice equal status in the household. Kids will see through this funny, quirky man that learning never stops, and sometimes, by asking questions, great things happen. Mirroring the partnership of Mr. and Mrs. Popper, Richard Atwater got sick and was unable to finish the book, so his wife, Florence, picked up where he left off.