Review: The Rainbow Tulip by Pat Mora

Author: Pat Mora
Title: The Rainbow Tulip
Illustrator: Elizabeth Sayles
Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: 1999
ISBN: 0-670-87291-1

Summary:
Her name is Estelita at home and Stella at school. She speaks Spanish at home and English at school. Stella loves colorful clothing and fits in well at her English school, unlike her shy, quiet mother who wears dull colors like brown, no makeup, and speaks only Spanish. Although Stella loves her mother, she is ashamed of her. Stella wishes her mother were more like the other mothers with their makeup and short dresses. She wishes her mother could speak English, too.
When Stella finds out that she gets to dress like a tulip for the upcoming May Day celebration, she decides that she wants to be a rainbow tulip. On the day of the celebration, Stella’s mother goes with her to school to watch the festivities, although she stands off to the side by herself since she cannot talk to the other mothers in English. Stella nervously looks around at all the other girls in their dresses of one color, blues, pinks, and yellows. Stella is the only rainbow tulip. Although uncomfortable as people point at her, commenting on her dress, Stella remembers every step of the dance. When she sees her mother smile, she knows that her mother is proud of her. Later, her mother tells her it is hard to be different. Instead of being ashamed of her mother, Stella now understands and asks to know more about her grandparents.

Analysis:
The Rainbow Tulip is a gentle story that will appeal to younger girls who enjoy being different. It is centered on a simple plot from which a lesson is learned. When Estelita/Stella chooses her dress for the upcoming May Day celebration, she chooses to be different. She wants a dress with “colors that sing and dance,” unlike her mother’s dresses which are quiet black, brown, gray, and sometimes light blue. From that choice, Estelita/Stella learns how hard it is to be different from those around her, just like her mother is different in dress, manners, lack of makeup, and language from the other mother’s in the neighborhood. Although proud of her costume, when she sees the other girls in their single-color dresses, she feels “quiet as a snail inside.” The oil-pastel illustrations add depth to Stella’s character and her emotions through body posture and facial expressions. Learning to accept and enjoy your differences is a good lesson for younger children, especially for the bilingual students who are learning to adjust in schools that are predominantly White.

Within the story, details of Estelita’s home life are included which draw the reader into her world. At home, Estelita is given thick, yellow cod liver oil every morning because her mother thinks “a strong desert wind could blow me away.” A contrast between her house and the outside world is established. One of the differences is her name. At home, she is Estelita, but at school, her name is Stella. Another difference is the language she speaks. “My brothers and I speak English outside the house and Spanish inside the house. My father says, “Hija, this house is a piece of Mexico.”” Their house is also “a quiet house” where their father likes to read; running and shouting is for outside. Her father was a judge in Mexico; “he never yells, but when he looks at you, you behave.” Even the pictures provide contrast. The illustrations of her home are in muted tones, like the clothes that her mother wears. Outside the home are the brighter tones of reds, pinks, yellows, purples, and greens. In her aunt’s home are “rainbows of threads and clouds of cloth.”

Spanish words are scattered throughout, just like a bilingual child may speak. Because Estelita/Stella tells the story, the use of Spanish words in the English text adds to Estelita’s cultural background. Most of the Spanish words depend on context for interpretation, but occasionally a side-by-side interpretation is provided like when Estelita’s Tia Carmen tells her “that I will be the most beautiful tulip, el tuipan mas lindo, in the whole world, en todo el mundo.” This is awkward but necessary for the statement to be understood by English-only readers. All Spanish words and phrases are printed in italics.

Review excerpts:
Booklist (November 1, 1999) “What many immigrant kids will enjoy is the bicultural experience.... Estelita/Stella comes to value her dual heritage, even though it is hard to be different.”

Kirkus Reviews (September 1, 1999) “With warmth and directness, Mora celebrates diversity, but provides a balanced view of assimilation as well.” (5-9)

Children’s Literature (1999) “The sensitive, muted watercolor illustrations suit the story’s mood, while the charming facial expressions help the characters come alive in this timely book.” (Ages 4 to 8)

School Library Journal (1999) “Based on a story from the author’s mother’s childhood, and perfectly extended by soft, warm pastel drawings framed in white, this tale of family love and support crosses cultural boundaries and may remind youngsters of times when their families made all the difference.” (K-Gr 3)

Awards:
Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award Nominee 1999
Growing Up Latino in the U.S.A. list (ALSC American Library Association) 2004
Kaleidoscope, A Multicultural Booklist for Grades K-8, Fourth Edition (National Council of Teachers of English) 2003
Texas Reading Club (State of Texas booklist) 2004

Connections:
Extend The Rainbow Tulip by Pat Mora with an exploration of other holidays in May that include dancing. May Day written by Jeffrey Kent (2008) is a nonfiction book that includes two titles issued back-to-back and inverted: May Day -- Lei Day. This book introduced children to the holidays of May Day and Lei Day and describes why they are celebrated, what traditions are associated with each, and how they differ. Further information on Lei Day can be found via several websites including http://www.leiday.net/ and http://www.honolulu.gov/parks/programs/leiday/history.pdf. This is a fun way to introduce some of the Hawaiian culture.

Add some dances from Mexico by studying Cinco de Mayo, another May holiday that is celebrated in Mexico and in the United States. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mexican Hat Dance by F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Marcela Gomez and David Silva, and translated by Joe Hayes and Sharon Franco (2006) also comes in its original Spanish-only version, Celebra el Cinco de Mayo con un jarabe tapatio. In this picture book, a teacher introduces her students to the Mexican hat dance in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. It includes details on the holiday's history and traditions. Include a nonfiction book about this holiday such as Cinco de Mayo by Aurora Colon Garcia (2008). Here you will find information on how Mexican-Americans celebrate their heritage with parades, music, dancing, and festivals, in honor of the freedom they won on May 5, 1862, in a battle against the French army.

Have a day of dance! Find dance troupes to demonstrate a variety of dances. Find parents or neighborhood volunteers to teach the students some of the dances you have read about. Dance your way into spring!

RSimpson

Review: Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
Title: Esperanza Rising
Illustrator: Joe Cepeda
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: 2000
ISBN: 0-439-12041-1


Summary:
Esperanza had everything: a loving father and mother, servants, and a vineyard in Mexico. The day before her thirteenth birthday, every changes. Her father dies, leaving the land to his brothers as the law decrees. After Esperanza’s mother turns down a marriage proposal by the eldest of her husband’s brothers, the house and the vineyards are burned to the ground. Forced to accept the proposal or flee, Esperanza and her mother leave in secret with the help of their former servants. Now, Esperanza and her mother face a new life as farm workers in California during the Great Depression. When her mother falls ill, Esperanza must let go of the past and take on her mother’s responsibilities on the farm, working to bring in the meager pay to support herself, to pay her mother’s hospital bills, and to save enough money to bring her grandmother to them.

Analysis:
Esperanza Rising is a story of Cinderella in reverse: the princess becomes a pauper. But in becoming a pauper, Esperanza’s character grows in depth and maturity. She begins to see people as individuals rather than as extensions of their social class. This lesson is made stronger through the setting and time chosen by the author.

Set during the Great Depression in 1930, Esperanza is the daughter of a vineyard plantation owner in Mexico, little affected by the poverty of others or by the Mexican Revolution that has already occurred. She likes the son of a family servant, Miguel, but “between them ran a deep river.” After losing everything, her father, the vineyard, their home, Esperanza and her mother flee in secret to California with the help of their former servants.

Already Esperanza is faced with poverty, depending on others for food and the clothes on her back, yet Esperanza still looks at the people around her through the eyes of the wealthy. Those people are poor and dirty and uneducated, not her. Gradually, through her mother’s example, she begins to see the shame she brings to her mother through her actions. When her mother falls ill, Esperanza must take over the jobs her mother did in order to bring some money in. Esperanza grows into a strong, young woman who comes to care for others, whatever their station in life may be. The river is gone between Esperanza and Miguel.

Details bring the story to life. Each chapter is named after a food that is to be harvested: grapes, papayas, figs, and more. The year passes in this manner. Time is not noted by months but rather by the harvesting seasons on a farm. The importance of the land is also felt through the ritual Esperanza and her father share. They lay with their ear to the ground and listen for the earth’s heartbeat.

Physical descriptions of the people around Esperanza paint a picture of the life she lives. The straw hats of the campesinos in their baggy pants, bandanas, and long-sleeved shirts ready to work in the grape fields as the August sun beats down from above paint a picture of the hard work that is to come. The appearance of her friends after a dust storm where their “faces were so encrusted with dry dirt that they reminded Esperanza of cracked pottery” adds to the sense of grittiness that a dust storm leaves behind.

Other details, such as physical appearances, rituals and celebrations, food, and personal names add to the Mexican setting and culture the story is built around. Mama had long dark hair worn in a braided crown and her fair, creamy skin. Papa’s eyes were shaped like fat, brown almonds. Hortensia was shorter with the features and darker skin of a Zapotec Indian. Some of the celebrations specific to the Hispanic culture and/or the Catholic religion include Quinceaneras and the altar to the Virgin Mary. Some of the food they ate included machaca burritos, tortillas, and flan de almendras. The names of the characters are Hispanic: Esperanza Ortega, Ramona, Sixto, Hortensia, Miguel, Alfonso, and Marisol Rodriguez, to name a few.

The Spanish language is expertly interwoven throughout the story. Every word or phrase written in Spanish is then followed by an English translation, whether it is in the dialogue or in the third person narration. After a while, though, this consistent method of translation gets to be redundant. At times translation is necessary, but there are other times when the context alone would suffice. The addition of a glossary or footnotes may have relieved the writing of its choppiness when a translation was necessary.

All of these factors, the details, the names, the characters’ features, the rituals and celebrations, and the Spanish language, brought with them the sense that the story was written by someone who knew the people of the story and their lives. This is confirmed when reading the author’s note at the end. There you discover that the story is based on her grandmother, Esperanza Ortega, a story that was told to her (the author) when she was a young child.

Review excerpts:
Book Report (January/February 2001) “Readers will sympathize with Esperanza as she sheds her patrician upbringing and adapts to circumstances to survive.”

Booklist (December 1, 2000) “Ryan writes movingly in clear, poetic language that children will sink into....” (Gr. 5-8)

Horn Book (January/February 2001) “...a poignant look at the realities of immigration.”

Kirkus Review (October 1, 2000) “Her (Ryan’s) style is engaging, her characters appealing, and her story is on that...is little heard in children’s fiction. It bears telling to a wider audience.” (9-15)

Publishers Weekly (July 1, 2002) “With a hint of magical realism, this robust novel set in 1930 captures a Mexican girl’s fall from riches and her immigration to California.” (Ages 8-12)

School Library Journal (October 2000) “Except for the evil uncles, all of the characters are rounded, their motives genuine, with class issues honestly portrayed. Easy to booktalk, useful in classroom discussions, and accessible as pleasure reading, this well-written novel belongs in all collection.” (Gr 6-9)

Awards/Nominations/Lists:
Pura Belpre Award 2002
ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults 2001
Smithsonian Best Books 2000
Publisher’s Weekly Best Children’s Books 2000
L.A. Times Best Books of 2000
Excellence in a Work of Fiction Award 2001 (Children’s Literature Council of Southern California)
Judy Goddard/Libraries Limited Arizona Young Adult Author Award 2001
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award 2001
Colorado Children’s Book Award Nominee 2003
Americas Award Honor Book 2000
Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee 2002-2003
South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee 2002-2003
ALA Notable Children’s Book 2002
Judy Lopez Memorial Award 2001
Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee 2002-2003
IRA Notable Book for a Global Society 2001
NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2001
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist 2001
New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

Connections:
Add a history lesson on migrant farm workers during the Great Depression after reading Esperanza Rising, and include stories from the perspective of the Oklahoma migrant workers. Children of the Dust Bowl : the true story of the school at Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley (1992) describes the plight of the migrant workers who traveled from the Dust Bowl to California during the Depression.

Add other, more recent, examples of the life of migrant farmworkers. A good nonfiction book is La Causa : the migrant farmworkers' story by Dana Catharine de Ruiz and Richard Larios (1993). This book includes eyewitness accounts of the working conditions experienced by the farmworkers, including Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the 1960’s. Voices from the fields : children of migrant farmworkers tell their stories with interviews and photographs by S. Beth Atkin (1993) includes poems and stories from nine children living and working today in California’s Salinas Valley. Would you have joined the strike, or not? Answer this question from the different perspectives.

RSimpson