 2008-12-02 - mattie's opinion
Esperanza's life isn't perfect. She lives in a stinky old house on Mango Street in the bad part of Chicago, and doesn't have many friends. Her parents don't really care about her, and she has a really hectic life. Esperanza just wants to get out of that old house and have a "normal" life like Sally and her friends from school. She is scared that one day she will die because there is so much violence where she lives. Even though Esperanza has a good education and likes her school, she is lonely and wants to meet new kids so she can talk about life.
One day her dream comes true. She meets a girl named Sally. Sally lives on Mango Street with her, and has tons of boyfriends. Is Sally true friends with Esperanza or is she becoming friends with Esperanza because she feels bad for and wants a better reputation as the nice girl?
When I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Sandra Cisneros uses great techniques to describe and show the struggles of a teenager growing up in a bad neighborhood. Also, she has a great theme of never judging a book by its cover. This is one of my favorite books of fiction, and I would recommend this to teenagers and adults.
 2008-12-01 - Ethan's ideas
"We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina and before that I can't remember." This is the life of Esperanza from the book The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza is twelve years old and lives with her Mama, Papa, Kiki, Carlos and Nenny in the Latino part of Chicago.
Although Esperanza is happy, she still has to put up with the embarrassment that her house causes her. She also has to live without that much money. Esperanza is a great example of how you don't have to be rich economically to be rich in love or tradition.
Sandra Cisneros does an outstanding job introducing characters at the start of each chapter. Cisneros also does an exceptional job describing the feelings and actions of the characters. When I was reading the book, I would know how a character felt about a certain thing before she described it.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in learning about the lifestyle of a poor family or want to read a work of historical fiction. I would also recommend this book to people who want to expand their knowledge on others' cultures. After reading this book by Cisneros, I would be open to reading any other book by her. Overall, I think this is a book for all ages
and all different types of people.
 2008-12-01 - Simone's 7th grade review
"In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting." Esperanza is a thirteen-year-old Mexican girl, living on Mango Street, a working class Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. She has a very open mind, and thinks very freely.
Throughout the book, Esperanza tells stories about her life, friends, and unique characters that someone would not normally meet. Sally, Esperanza's friend, is changing from a thirteen-year old girl in the 7th grade, to a wife with her own apartment. This is all occurring in less than a week. Ruthie is a married woman who owns her own house, but lives with her mother. Every weekend she claims that her husband is coming to pick her up. Weekends come and go, but no husband arrives. Another interesting character on Mango Street is Earl. He works all day and lives in a basement apartment with a peculiar musty smell. He is married, but barely sees his wife. Although they are all different, the things that they have in common can bring them together.
This work of fiction is well written and so detailed because Susan Cisneros is of Mexican heritage, and grew up in Chicago. I enjoyed this book because it showed different cultures within the Hispanic community. I also liked how Esperanza finds ways to have fun and entertain herself, even though she doesn't have a lot. I recommend this book to any young adult, or any adult, because the author did a great job composing it.
2008-12-01 - A seventh grade view
"I knew that I had to have a house. A real house. One that I could point to. But this isn't it. The house on Mango Street isn't it. `For the time being,' Mama says. `Temporary,' says Papa. But I know how those things go." For Esperenza Cordero, living in a cramped, tiny, crumbling house on Mango Street in Chicago is not the kind of life she wants to live. There is nothing that she can do except stay put, while trying to make her boring life interesting by enjoying any small goodness she can find in her neighborhood, whether it's a physical object or just a thought.
Many people who accidentally get lost in Esperenza's neighborhood are scared that people like Esperenza and her family will come and hurt them. This is because most of the people on Mango Street are job-seeking immigrants from Mexico or Central America. This false judgment is one of the reasons why Esperenza doesn't want to live on Mango Street. However, Esperenza eventually accepts it along with her friends Lucy, Rachel and Sally as they learn that they don't need others' opinions to tell them who they are.
This book tells about a young girl who faces problems with racism and social prejudice and, at the same time, strives to find out who she wants to become and what she wants to do in the future. Sandra Cisneros truly captures the beauty and rich culture with her concise and poetic language. This book may express some of her Latino heritage and what her life was like growing up.
I recommend this book to readers of any age. They will find themselves lost in each chapter as they learn about how Esperenza Cordero discovers how she will live her life.
2008-11-29 - Lyrical indeed
I have read this book with my high school students year after year, and I love it every time. Please understand, dear reader, this is a book of incredibly lyrical prose, and at times it is really more of a narrative poem. In fact, I read it as such with my students. At first they complain: 'I don't get it!' But as time goes on, and I continue to read the short vignettes (and we discuss such things as names, as hair, as beloved grandparents, as the places we've lived), they begin to see the portrait of Esperanza's life being painted for them with words... beautiful words. My favorite chapter is Darius and the Clouds. Just gorgeous writing there....
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