Esperanza Rising

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: “Create a Treasure Chest”

In this activity, students will create a treasure chest that represents their own definition of wealth.

One of this novel’s major themes is The True Meaning of Wealth. The author opens the novel with a Mexican proverb that encourages the listener to reconsider material wealth (money, property, objects) and non-material wealth (the intangible things that make life worth living). It is your turn to do the same. Create a treasure chest that demonstrates your definition of wealth. Use the prompts below to help you reflect and brainstorm about your creation.

• What is wealth? What are the physical markers of wealth?
• What are non-material indicators of wealth?
• Which is more important to you, material wealth or non-material wealth?
• If you lost everything material tomorrow, would you consider yourself wealthy? What non-material aspects of your life would show that you are living a good life?

Now, create your treasure chest! Choose 7-10 items to put in your chest that either symbolize or show your definition of wealth. Make sure you have a good reason and explanation for each one. You can use photos, magazines, collages, writing, drawings, digital art, whichever mode of expression suits your needs. When you’ve completed your treasure chest, share it with your class, your family, or your friends.

Teaching Suggestion: In this activity, students have an opportunity to make personal, creative connections to the novel’s major theme The True Meaning of Wealth. Teachers might modify the activity by limiting student modes of output to one or two media. Another modification would be to require show and tell or presentation of the treasure chest, which could address speaking and listening standards. Students who conflate wealth with money or who feel uncomfortable with their family’s socioeconomic status may need additional social-emotional support while working on this topic. Educators are encouraged to have the proper support persons and activities in place for those students if necessary.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who need support with language structure and abstract thinking, consider using sentence frames for the brainstorming questions that promote list making, such as:

• Wealth means....
• Some material things (that I can touch) that represent wealth to me are...
• Some non-material things (that I cannot touch) that represent wealth to me are...
• If I don’t have money, these things will make me feel rich...

ACTIVITY 2: “Build a Family Tree”

In this activity, students will build a family tree that includes stories gleaned from interviews.

Part of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s research for this project was interviews and stories she recorded from listening to her grandmother talk about her life. She went on to interview other family members and people who had lived with her grandmother or knew her during the time period she was investigating. Interviewing is a major part of research for writers and historians alike. Accessing family histories can open a new door of learning and curiosity and bring us closer together with our loved ones. Take on this task by building a family tree.

• Start with your name, your mother’s name, and your father’s name. Work backward, adding parents, siblings, and so forth. Go as far as you can by talking to the oldest person in your family about the oldest person they remember.
• Don’t forget to add your contemporaries—your siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews.
• While you conduct your research into your family tree, get curious about the lives of the people you can name and still talk to. Ask them some of the questions below or come up with your own.
• Where were you born?
• When did you know you were a grown-up?
• If you lived through a particular moment in history (The Great Depression, 9/11, The Civil Rights Era), what do you remember about the event? What did you think about the events at the time?
• What were your friend’s names? What kinds of things did you all do for fun together?
• What are your favorite games/snacks/movies?
• Ask to see photos.
• If you are going to record the interviews, or copy photos, get permission first!
• When you do your interviews, you might run into topics people don’t want to talk about. Don’t get offended; instead, respect their desire to keep their privacy. Sometimes, it’s about earning trust—they may come back and tell you later!

This project could go on for as long as family members are willing to talk to you. Limit yourself to three interviews, to start. When you’ve finished, put your family tree on display at the next family gathering and ask for help filling in the blanks or adding to the “story bank” of interviews you’ve collected.

Teaching Suggestion: In this activity, students have an opportunity to make personal, creative connections to the novel’s major theme The Importance of Family. Teachers might modify the activity by allowing students to work on the project for a limited amount of time, or by providing support beyond this novel study. Students who are adoptees or fostered might find this activity uncomfortable and might need social-emotional support during the work of this activity. Educators are encouraged to have the proper support persons and activities in place for those students if necessary.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who haven’t seen a family tree before, teachers might provide visual support by showing examples from other texts or online image searches. Educators might also print out blank templates, like this one from Family Search, or allow students to use a free digital tool like Adobe Express to create a family tree digitally.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. At the beginning of the novel, Esperanza’s mother Ramona is seemingly just as accustomed to wealth as Esperanza is.

• How does Ramona’s behavior after losing her husband counter the initial impression that she is out-of-touch and spoiled? What words would you use to describe her instead? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, provide examples of Ramona’s words and actions that show she is different from what she might have seemed at first.
• In your closing sentences, imagine a few reasons why Ramona might have been this way all along. What do you know about other characters or her young life that provide evidence for what you imagine?

2. Esperanza’s birthday is at the beginning of the grape season. Each of the novel’s chapters is named for a different crop.

• What effect does the author’s choice to name each chapter after a crop have on the novel? How does she weave the crop into each chapter? (topic sentence)
• Select 3-4 chapter titles, other than “Las Uvas / Grapes.” In the body of your essay, discuss how each chapter’s name is important to the meaning, plot, or characters in that chapter.
• By the end of the novel, Esperanza is telling her story and using the different crops to explain the passage of time. What does this change mean for Esperanza’s character?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. In Chapter 2, Esperanza reflects on a conversation she had with Miguel:

But now that she was a young woman, she understood that Miguel was the housekeeper’s son and she was the ranch owner’s daughter and between them ran a deep river. Esperanza stood on one side and Miguel stood on the other and the river could never be crossed.

What does this deep river represent? How does that play out between Miguel and Esperanza? Compare and contrast their relationship in Mexico with their relationship in the United States. What changes for them both? How does their relationship change?

2. Analyze and discuss the novel’s themes about wealth. How does the author use character, setting, dialogue, or other literary elements to explore this theme? What is the author’s message?

It takes a while for Esperanza to adapt to the major changes in her life. What motivates her and helps spur her character development? What do those motivations say about her character? Provide multiple examples to support your analysis.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is the strongest example of a character Embracing New Beginnings?

A) Ramona finds comfort sitting outside after she gets home from the hospital.

B) Miguel searches for work at the railroad tracks.

C) Abuelita chooses to stay in Mexico until after Ramona and Esperanza settle in the United States.

D) Esperanza asks Isabel to teach her how to do housework.

2. In Chapter 5, Miguel tells Esperanza about a popular saying, “Full bellies and Spanish blood go hand-in-hand.” Why does he tell her that?

A) Esperanza has access to wealth and plentiful food because of the color of her skin.

B) Miguel is telling Esperanza that his life and opportunities are different from hers, and some of it is based on race.

C) Miguel wants to hurt her feelings so she can understand what it feels like worry about having enough food to eat.

D) Miguel wants to accuse Esperanza’s father of stealing from “the poor,” but he doesn’t have enough evidence.

3. What major historical event (or series of events) sets the scene for the Ortega family’s life in Mexico?

A) World War II

B) The Great Depression

C) The Dust Bowl

D) The Mexican Revolution

4. In Chapter 11, Esperanza gives some of her beans and a piñata to a family begging for food at the strikers’ camp. Why is this moment important to the novel?

A) It shows that Esperanza might be willing to go on strike with Marta and the others.

B) It reveals how important family is to Esperanza because she’s willing to help a man who also cares for his family.

C) It shows that Esperanza is learning generosity and growing into a different understanding of what’s important to her.

D) It makes clear that Esperanza still has a long way to go, because she only gave the man a small portion of her beans.

5. Which set of words best characterizes Miguel?

1. Hardworking, brave, hopeful

2. Dangerous, courageous, happy

3. Lost, angry, sullen

4. Sarcastic, kind, funny

6. What major historical event (or series of events) sets the scene for the Ortega family’s life in the United States?

A) World War II

B) The Great Depression

C) The Mexican Revolution

D) The Texas-American War

7. Which of the these is the strongest example of characters showing The Importance of Family?

A) Tío Luis plans to marry Ramona to keep the wealth and social influence in the Ortega family.

B) Miguel and his family help Esperanza and her mother find work and home in California.

C) Esperanza decides to go to work to pay her mother’s medical bills and save up to send for Abuelita.

D) Esperanza helps out with the babies and other children younger than her when she first gets to the camp.

8. During many intense emotional moments, Isabel asks aloud, “Are we going to starve?” and everyone emphaticallyresponds “No!” In Chapter 12, her mother says, “No, mija [...] How could anyone starve here with so much food around us?” Which of the following best represents that abundance of food?

A) The family has tortillas and beans every night and only goes to the store once in the whole novel.

B) Hortensia knows how to use avocados to make a mask for dry hands.

C) Esperanza has plenty of plums to feed to the babies, so much so that they got sick.

D) The family stops to pick a dozen cantaloupes from a tree when they first arrive in the San Joaquin Valley.

9. Which of these is the strongest example of The True Meaning of Wealth?

A) “I am poor, but I am rich. I have my children, I have a garden with roses, and I have my faith and the memories of those who have gone before me. What more is there?” (Chapter 5)

B) “In Mexico, I was a second-class citizen. I stood on the other side of the river, remember?” (Chapter 13)

C) “I know it is hard. Do you know what I miss? I miss my dresses.” (Chapter 8)

D) “The doll wore a fine white batiste dress and a white lace mantilla over her black hair.” (Chapter 3)

10. How does the author use the characters of Esperanza and Isabel to develop the meaning of the novel?

A) She juxtaposes one girl’s life on the others to show that their shared tragedy works both ways.

B) She highlights the irony that Isabel yearns for a lavish fairy tale life that Esperanza had, and Esperanza yearns to be happy with Isabel’s simple life.

C) She uses each girl as a metaphor for a different type of hope—one a hope for each other, the other a hope for the Mexican people.

D) She uses the conversations between Isabel and Esperanza as comic relief in an otherwise emotionally heavy novel.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is the significance of the novel’s title?

2. Why does Esperanza dislike Marta when they first meet? What makes Esperanza change her mind about Marta?