“Esperanza Rising” by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Winner of the Pura Belpré Award

Esperanza has everything. Her family’s ranch in Mexico has beautiful gardens, fine dresses, and servants, and she’s never had to lift a finger. Then a sudden tragedy changes her life overnight, and she and her mother flee to California, where they live in a farm labor camp during the Great Depression.

Now Esperanza has to work in the fields alongside people she once would never have noticed. She has to learn to be brave, to be humble, and to hold her family together when a strike threatens everything they’ve built.

It’s a moving, beautifully told story about courage, hard work, and starting over, with lovely writing that readers have loved for more than twenty years. It’s written for ages eight to twelve and makes a fine read-aloud too.

This paperback is in good condition, and you can find it at Dead Tree Dreams.