Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a young girl could want: fancy dresses; a beautiful home filled with servants in Aguascalientes, Mexico; and the promise of one day rising to Mama's position and presiding over all of Rancho de las Rosas.
But a sudden tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp.
There, Esperanza must relinquish her hold on the past as she confronts the challenges of hard labor, acceptance by her own people, and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression, and ultitmately discovers the riches of family and community.
Pam Munoz Ryan eloquently portrays the Mexican workers' plight in this abundant and passionate novel that gives voice to those who have historically been denied one.
"When I was a child, I always assumed my grandmother grew up in poverty because the stories she told were primarily about raising her children in farm labor camps in California in the 1930s. It wasn't until I was a young woman that she told me about her childhood in Mexico. I was so moved by her riches-to-rags fairy tale that I felt compelled to share her story." -- Pam Munoz Ryan.