At the young age of eight years old, I was already fully aware of the fact that there weren't many books that represented who I was. Most books were like fairytales: white complected women, blonde hair, blue eyes. All having a beautiful two story house with a picket fence and a sidewalk. That was very different than my brown skinned, brown eyed self who lived in a small three bedroom house with a pipe company as my back neighbor. Where the flea market was down the street from my house and that's where we went every Saturday to "quality family time."
I clearly remember reading Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz in my fourth grade. I clearly remember seeing the cover of the book and noticing that the main character skin really resembled mine. I also noticed the long dark hair that resembled mine too.
The story of a young girl that went from riches to rags was such an interesting story. It literally felt like I was reading a novela. I could imagine the fields of fruits that her family owned because I have seen feels like that in Mexico too. Seeing all the Spanish words and phrases placed throughout the book made me gain a deeper connection to the book. I understand those words!
Even though I couldn't connect to the character (I mean, I don't come from a riches to rags family) I could connect to her in the sense that she was a Mexican living in America. Where she didn't know the language. She spoke Spanish in a country where she gets dirty looks for speaking it in public. She was poor. She had very little clothes.
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These feelings as a little girl are what pushed me to become an educator, where a book that you personally identified made you yearn to look for more books like that. The power that one but can you do can really change your life. This inspires me to always look for books that my Hispanic students can identify with. It brings so much empowerment to these students and it lets him see that they are books that look like them, think like them and speak like them.
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