The House on Mango Street Reflection

I feel like I want to say I hate this book!
I do not really, it is just that it is, to me, so addicting. It is very hard for me to put it down no matter how many times I read it. I carry it everywhere with me so that whenever I have extra time I can read and reread certain chapters and talk about it to random people who see me reading it.
I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office one day last week reading Mango Street while waiting for my son to be seen. Three people commented on the fact that they have heard of the book but have never picked it up to read it. Of course I took this opportunity to talk about the book and how it WILL be taught in my classroom. It was very interesting to me to explain Esperanza and her life and friends and family.
I particularly talked about the very short piece on her name. We do not even get her name until the fourth chapter of the book, if you want to call them chapters. I find it very interesting that her name means so much yet so little to her; she wants to be Zeze the X. I think the people in the waiting room thought I was crazy because I talked about the characters in the book as if I knew them. I think that this is one of the reasons it is so 'teachable'.
I feel that we all know characters like the ones on Mango Street; maybe we have even at one point been a character on Mango Street. Nonetheless, everyone at any level can relate to what the characters of Mango Street go through on a daily basis. Mango Street is a perfect book to begin the school year with. By starting the year with Mango Street we open up our classroom to the differences and unique characteristics that everyone brings with them. What a great way to show students that everyone matters, no matter where they are from or what their status in life may be.
In my world Esperanza would have no problems making friends. While she would pitch in to by a bike, she would not have to pay for friends.
Four Skinny Trees:
What is she saying? Despite the location and daily problems of Mango Street, these four trees still made it. I think she looks up to these trees, she wants to be like these trees. No matter what happens to her, she can always have hope that she will make it out of Mango Street and into something better. The trees fight, why can't she.
I feel like I can go on forever about this book, but I will save some for class. That, and it doesn't seem like anyone is reading this anyway so I am writing for myself, which is fine with me, but I would much rather get back to reading more vignettes from Mango Street.