House On Mango Street

The book being reviewed is titled, The House on Mango Street and was written by Sandra Cisneros and first published in 1984. The book follows a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago as she travels on the roller coaster of life trying to find her way. The story is told in a series of vignettes. The price of the book is $11.00 and ISBN: 978-0-679-73477-2. Sandra Cisneros is well known for her poetry and short story collections; her ability to connect several short stories/vignettes is flawless. The purpose of this book was to tell a coming-of-age story. Covering a year of the life of a Mexican-American girl, Esperanza, who faces many challenges as she finds her own way through this crucial year of development both physically and mentally/emotionally. My own perception of the purpose of this book was to expose some of the cultural traditions and circumstances of a Mexican family living in America. Also, on the page before the Table of Contents, there is one page with the words “A las Muejeres….To
Esperanza’s struggles as a member of a Mexican family in America are not isolated to relating only to Mexican-American families or other immigrant groups; every reader can find a way to relate to Esperanza’s story in this novel. In particular, the lesson of befriending Sally stood out. Esperanza befriends Sally because she is starting to be curious about boys. She finds that Sally is very popular among the boys and wants to hang out with her to earn their attention as well. Eventually being involved with Sally leads Esperanza into an unfortunate and traumatizing experience. I think that our teens and young adults in society will really resonate with this part of the novel and possibly learn something from this story. Also, pay special attention to the women Cisneros describes as sitting by windows. Each of these women represents a negative and almost helpless figure in society for a variety of