I have been reading this book aloud to my daughter for a few days now as we all immerse ourselves in our family book tour of Mexico.

We read about 100 pages already and both my daughter and I are loving this book so far. The writing is simple and elegant. The setting (at the beginning of the book) is a ranch in 1930’s in Aguascalientes, Mexico. This is the story of a 13 year old girl – Esperanza – who is forced to flee her home in Mexico and all the comforts associated with it to immigrate to US due to some sad/unforeseen circumstances.

Esperanza comes from a rich family in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Her father owns a ranch there. Esperanza is treated like a princess as she is the only child of the ranch owner. Following an unexpected tragedy, Esperanza is forced to abandon her home and move to California with her mother and a few loyal servants. As Esperanza adjusts to letting go of the comforts that she took for granted in her home in Mexico to start a new life in California along with her mother, the author did a great job walking the young readers through the transformation that takes place within her.

I think the fact that Esperanza comes from a rich family breaks certain stereotypes that are widely prevalent in the United States about immigrants who came from the third world countries. I am only about half way through this book but I already have a feeling that this will be a great story about immigration, resilience, love, betrayal, loss, heart ache, family, relationships, empathy, kindness and hope.