Reading Response Log

Title: Esperanza Rising
Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Illustrator:
Publisher: by Scholastic Press, a division of Scolastic Inc., Publishers since 1920.
Copyright: c 2000 by Pam Muñoz Ryan
ISBN#: 0-439-12041-1
Genre: Fiction
Library Location: Cornette Library is located in the center of West Texas A&M University Campus.
Summary:
This story starts in 1920 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Esperanza (the protagonist of this story) and her family lives in Rancho de las Rosas, a vineyard her family owns. At the time the Mexico is recovering from the revolution of 1910. Her grandfather passed away on those days and by the time women's were not allow to keep the land, and her grandfather was the only men at the house. Her tio (uncle) Luis offer to buy the property for them and her mom denied, so he offers to marry Esperanza's mom, but she denied again. He was a bad man; he was the president of the bank and wants that the government and the people see him as a good man. One night her house and the vineyard got in fire and they lost everything. By the next day her tio Luis come back and ask again Esperanza's mom if she wants to marry him (and if she denied again bad stuff will still happen to her family) and she accepted. To avoid the marriage she plans to leave to the United States with Esperanza and with their foreman, his wife and their son. There she will have to live as a poor people and had to forget their spoil life. Esperanza's mom falls ill with the Valley Fever and she had to be at the hospital in order to recover, so Esperanza had to work in order to make money to pay the hospital and save to bring grandma to the United States so she can help taking care of her mom. It was difficult for her to change her life, and learn at young ages that life is difficult and not fair. But she never gives up. She almost fail whenever she finds out that her friend Miguel steal her money. But whenever he comes back and had grandma with him, she understand that he steal the money to bring grandma with them.
Personal Comments:
I think this kind of chapter books had a lot to learn from there. Not too many people knows how hard is to have everything and by one day everything is going. This helps to think not only young adults readers but everybody that nothing will be here forever and that you have to appreciate what you have right now because you not know that by the next minute you will still have it. Another thing that I really like was the last phrase that said "Do not ever be afraid to start over" (Ryan, pg. 253); this will be something that nobody had to forget. Things happen for a reason and most of the time at the moment we do not understand it but as time passed you will know why God let the happen to you.
Suggested Use in Classroom:
I will use this book in the classroom I think at any time. Some examples will be issue with social economy, with how politicians where back then (whenever women are not allow to own anything), with new students (teaching them that change is no bad, and you have to learn from it), and to let students know how hard is working in the valleys and that people still do it.




Title: Losing is not an option
Author: Rich Wallace.
Illustrator:
Publisher: by Alfred A. Knopf.
Copyright:
Text copyright "C" 2003 by Rich Wallace.
Jacket design copyright "C" 2003 by Alfred A. Knopf.
Jacket photo copyright "C" 2003 by Corbis.
ISBN#: 0-375-81251-9 (trade) 0-375-91351-3 (lib. bdg.)
Genre: Fiction.
Library Location: Cornette Library is located in the center of West Texas A&M University Campus.
Summary:
The story is about a teenager that not only had to deal with school and family problems. He is competitive and he does not like to lose. He is a multisport star in a small town, in where had a group of friends who daily competitions help him push himself up all the time. This book talk about some of the issues that a teenager confronts in their early years, some of the issues are: girl-boy friend’s relationships, drug and law issues, interfamiliar issues, and peer pressure and society expectations.
Personal Comments:
This book will be wonderful for any young adult that is competitive and always want to accomplish what their dreams are in life. This will be no only for athletes students, will be a pretty good story to let students know that nothing it’s impossible, and that if they want to accomplish something in life they will have to work for it. Nothing is easy in life but if you work hard enough to make it true it can happen.
Suggested Use in Classroom:
I will use with students that like sports and/or students that like to compete all the time and never want to lose.




Title: Help Wanted
Author: Gary Soto
Illustrator:
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
Copyright: 2005 by Gary Soto
ISBN#: 0-15-205201-1
Genre: Fiction
Library Location: Cornette Library is located in the center of West Texas A&M University Campus.
Summary:
This book is about the story of Mexican-American kids who are dealing with family problems, friendship and their first love. Each of them had their own story in where a small problem for them it is a big problem. Each had their own story in where they explain to us how they figure out to make it through the day. The largest of the problems for them is figuring out what it means to be alive.
Personal Comments:
I think this book will be very good for the teenagers to read. This book will teach them that every problem had their answer and that what they are not the only ones who right now suffer for something, that other teenagers of their same age had the same problem or may be a worst one.
Suggested Use in Classroom:
I will use it to teach students that we are not the only ones who are suffering right now from something that people out there had their problems too and some of those problems are similar from ours.




Title: Someone to Love Me
Author: Anne Schraff
Illustrator:
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright: 2002 by Townsend Press, Inc.
ISBN#: 0-439-90486-2
Genre: Fiction
Library Location: Cornette Library is located in the center of West Texas A&M University Campus.
Summary:
This book it’s about a single mom that live with her daughter and that it’s dating a guy that it’s un respectful in the way he is talking about his girlfriend. This is a story that we are facing all the time at this days. Cindy is a girl that the only thing she asks for is love and attention. At this time her mom things that her boyfriend it’s more important than her daughter and anything she said about him it’s not true. Cindy is a teenager that its asking for attention and the only way that she finds that attention it’s not going to school so her mom will see that something wrong it’s with her, but that not happen because her mom just care about her boyfriend. At the end Cindy got evidence of what her mother's boyfriend is doing and her mom believes in her and told her that this will never happen again, and that their relationship will change in a good way.
Personal Comments:
This story is just an issue that we seeing everyday now. Teenagers had their own personalities but as parents and teachers had to be aware of what it’s going on, why the student changes? Why they are acting the way? What its wrong in their life? What they need? People react different when they had a problem or when they need something we had to be aware of those problems in order to help them out.
Suggested Use in Classroom:
I will used as an example of how life is right now, and to teach students that everybody deserve respect and that anybody had to be with some body that treat you bad or call you different names whenever you are no around.





Title: Cuba 15
Author: Nancy Osa
Illustrator:
Publisher: Random House Childrens Books
Copyright: 2003 by Nancy Osa
ISBN#: 0-385-73021-7 0-385-90086-4 (lib.bdg.)
Genre: Fiction
Library Location: Cornette Library is located in the center of West Texas A&M University Campus.
Summary:
Violet is a girl that is going to turn 15, in all Latin culture means fifteen is the age when a girl enters womanhood and they had the tradition to have a big party in where the girl dresses with a big dress. Well Violet's heritage is half Cuban and half Polish but she feels 100% American, so whenever grandma asks her to have the party for her she is disagrees. Later she was agreeing to have the party but at the same time she wants to learn more about it and about her heritage. Whenever she was investigating about her heritage she finds out that she will have to make her own opinions about it, but what matters at this time was that she will make her party in the way she will want it, including old traditions and new traditions too.
Personal Comments:
As Latinas we discover that this is not just a tradition it is a party that we will never forget, it is something that you dream to have since you can remember. It is a pretty good story too because it just let people to think about their heritage and to want to know more about them. Most of the students that born here do not know anything about their parent’s traditions because their parents as soon as they move here they forgot to celebrate them and to tell their kids about it.
Suggested Use in Classroom:
I will used as in example that we have to know more about our heritage and our family heritage (traditions, celebrations, their language, the way they dress, etc).