The House on Mango Street
Author: Sandra Cisneros
Year Published: 1984
Where I found it: I’ve heard about this novel from friends in elementary school, high school, and even from professors in college. However, I’ve never read the novel even though it always sounded interesting to me, especially since the author is a Latina. I had a copy of the novel at home from when my older sister had to read the book back in 5th grade. You can find this book at any public library, book store, Amazon, etc.
Brief Description: Esperanza, the main character and narrator, describes her family’s new house on Mango Street and neighbors through a series of vignettes. She describes the house as a red, crumbling house in a poor neighborhood in the city with references to familiar street names like Loomis, Keeler, Paulina, etc. Esperanza also describes encounters with her family members like her father, a Mexican immigrant, her mother, her brothers Carlos and Kiki, and her younger sister Nenny. Her family of six lives in poverty and Esperanza shows in multiple instances how she is shameful of her living conditions, clothing, and other materialistic items like her shoes. The novel also includes Esperanza’s early experience with puberty as well as instances of sexual aggression she experiences. Other female characters introduced in the novel experience hardships as well like physical beatings, for example. Throughout the novel, Esperanza views her Mama as a role model and a source of support throughout all her hardships. Her Mama’s advice and witnessing her female friends attempt to escape the hard reality of abuse ultimately influence Esperanza to leave Mango Street with dreams to become a writer.
What I Thought as a Reader: As a reader, it took me a while to get into the novel. Some vignettes were interesting and left me wanting to know more about a certain character, like Marin, but I had to wait until later on in the novel to read more about them. I think Cisneros writing style in this novel represents Esperanza’s point of view more accurately and realistic. Although it took me awhile to get into the writing style of reading really long sentences with no obvious dialogue I think it adds to the novel’s authenticity of young adult literature. Overall, I enjoyed the novel and felt I could relate to it in a way that I was never able to relate to texts I read as a middle school student. I felt commonalities between Esperanza and I that deepened the connection I had to her character while reading the novel.
Pedagogical Reflection: Digital Trailer
YA Archive 2018 
Heidy, I’m really impressed with your digital book trailer. Great job! Your reflection here is really thoughtful, and I can absolutely see how these thoughts would make for great conversation with your future students. Excellent work!
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