Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Shalom in the City

Home
Progressive Christian
Episode 13: Shalom Book Club, "Esperanza Rising"

Episode 13: Shalom Book Club, "Esperanza Rising"

Last updated on: May 29, 2016 at 10:22 pm by Osheta Moore

Episode 13: Shalom Book Club, "Esperanza Rising" 2016-05-29T22:22:08-08:00 Osheta Moore

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Esperanza

Esperanza thought she’d always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico–she’d always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home, and servants. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the Great Depression, and to settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. Esperanza isn’t ready for the hard labor, financial struggles, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When their new life is threatened, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances–Mama’s life, and her own, depend on it.

In this episode, Cara and I chat about, “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Munoz Ryan.

I feel like Sanda Sherdin, a listener said in the hangout sums up everything we loved about the book:

I really loved the perspective on the era, immigration, the struggle of migrant workers, and prejudices. Stories like this are huge at developing empathy for people in positions we otherwise wouldn’t even know how to imagine. More than anything though, I loved the identity story. Esperanza first found her identity in her father, her status, and her pretty things. When those were sadly and undeservedly stripped away, she began to learn and reveal who she really was all along: a beautiful girl, inside and out, full of fight and hope! She discovered and revealed that her richness had nothing to do with her circumstances after all.

esperanzarising

We both loved the change of pace with choosing a middle grade book and we found so many parallels between Esperanza’s story and many people in our country who are either undocumented or navigating an immigration system that’s full of gaps. We both felt so energized to learn and explore the ways we can seek shalom for the foreigner. So next week, I’ve invited my friend, Sarah Quezada, the author of A Life with Subtitles to share tell her story of falling in love with a man who is an undocumented worker.

We also give an announcement that we’re changing our summer books. We’re still reading, “Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God” by Lauren Winner, but we’re changing the July and August books.

We hope you pop over to the hangout and share your thoughts on Shalom Sista Hangout and to get the skinny on the new books we’ve chosen for July and August.

Grab your copy of, “Wearing God” and join us next month.

Also, have you downloaded your FREE #SummerofShalom Guide yet? No? Well you can do that here.

SummerofShalom-1

Shalom My Sistas,

Osheta

Previous Post

May 21, 2016

Episode #12: Celebrate Shalom! Unity, Flourishing...All the Feels

Next Post

June 4, 2016 Episode 14: Seeking Shalom for the Immigrant interv

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anabaptist As a Jesus-Girl As a Mommy As a Third Way Woman Blog Composting Fair-Trade Fashion Faith Family Fearless Fridays In the Church in the Community in the Home Justice Marriage Ministry Peacemaking podcast Race Shalom Session Slider The City The Suburbs Uncategorized Watching What's Happening In The World What I'm Into

Select a Month March 2018 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian tradition is famous for the musical "Gregorian chant"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Presbyterian Anglican Roman Catholic Methodist