Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

My daughter in law is reading this book to decide if she should use it in her class room, and so I thought one good way to get back into reading fiction that is not a murder mystery would be to turn to young adult books.  I started with this book, and am hoping it will be the first of many.  Or at least several.
Esperanza does not start off as a very likable girl, which makes getting into the book hard.  I just did not like her, and didn't find any of the other characters all that compelling at first, so hard to move forward.  That is unfortunate, because overall the book is quite good, depicting the immigrant experience, and the sacrifices that people make to have a better life for their children and families.  It is very far from my personal history, so in that way it transports me into someone else's shoes.  It also is timely in the current political environment, where some are trying to lay blame at the feet of immigrants for the situation they find themselves in, which is regrettable.  Maybe this will change some minds.