The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros and published by Arte Publico Press in 1984, is truly a phenomenal book to engage yourself into. Cisneros tells the story of a girl that is extremely relatable to any type of teen. She goes through many journeys and deals with personal struggles throughout her childhood and teen years.

Esperanza, an about 12 year old Chicana girl and main character, moves into a house on Mango Street with her family of six. It is located in the middle of a poor Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Living in a one room, one bathroom house was not quite the dream she had in mind. Esperanza has a hard time coping with this situation, but she is a







































































strong girl and overcomes it. In the beginning she said, “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.” Esperanza feels ashamed of her family’s poverty and out of place feelings, so she secretly writes poems to escape from her life.

Soon after moving in, Esperanza gains a couple of friends. She tells of her many adventures with them exploring her neighborhood. She also tells what interesting yet eccentric people that live on her street as well.

As time goes on, Esperanza becomes more of a woman rather than just a little girl. After her maturity, she had to go through being sexually assaulted by a group of boys. In addition, she goes through the death of two of her family members. These traumatizing events that took place made her scared and vulnerable. Even though Esperanza wanted to leave Mango Street behind, she knew that everything there made her the person she was: a strong independent woman. Because of her experiences, she matured emotionally too.

I honestly enjoyed reading this book. I liked the unique way Cisneros wrote it. The series of short stories really made me connect with Esperanza and her life. The way some of the short stories were random, but somehow made sense in the long run made this book very interesting. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who enjoys reading about personal growth and courage.