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

American Born Chinese

Genre: Biography, Non Fiction, Multicultural, Graphic Novel

Yang , Gene . American Born Chinese. New York : First Second, 2006.

[Book cover credit: www.alibris.com]

Gene Yang weaves childhood memories, a Chinese Fable and the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype into a graphic novel that helps others understand what it is like to be an American Born Chinese.

Jin Wang is a third grade student whose family moves during the school year. A teacher wanting him to feel welcome stresses his Chinese heritage and not the fact that his family just moved from San Francisco. This is a unique biography that weaves three different angles of the story in a graphic novel format. Any student that has ever felt like an outsider can appreciate this story. It shines a light on the misconceptions people have of students with a different heritage. All students want the same things, to fit in and make new friends.

Grade 7 and Up–

2007 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature for Young Adults

2006 A National Book Awards Finalist