House on Mango Street

Genre: Multicultural, Realistic Fiction

Cisneros, Sandra. House on Mango Street. New York : Vintage Contemporaries, 1984.

[Book cover credit: www.alibris.com]

The House on Mango Street is a wonderfully honest look into the life of a young girl living in a Latino section of Chicago. She describes her family, her neighbors and the community that surrounds them.

Esperanza’s family is moving from a flat to a house. Her Mother and Father always talked about the house they would move into one day. From page 5:

“I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One 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.”

You hear Esperanza’s voice come through in the 44 vignettes. The book is written in a stream of conscious fashion as she describes life in a Latino section of Chicago. She speaks honestly about her family, her neighborhood and the people that live on Mango Street.

Grade 7 and Up–

1985 The American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation