Reading as a Collaborative Act: Crossing Borders with Pam Muñoz Ryan

By Marie LeJeune and Tracy Smiles, Western Oregon University


During the month of April we’ve explored how some of our favorite authors can be mentors for reading, writing, and global citizenship. For our final post this month we are featuring author Pam Muňoz Ryan.

Like Linda Sue Park and Sherman Alexie, we see Pam Muňoz Ryan as an ideal author for mentoring students in literacy and global citizenship. She has written over thirty children’s and adolescent books, including popular titles like Esperanza Rising, Becoming Naomi Leon, Riding Freedom, Paint the Wind, and the more recently published The Dreamer, which has won multiple awards, including an ALA Notable book, NCTE’s Notable Books in the Language Arts, and IRA’s Notable Books for a Global Society. Ryan is an author who fits the suggested criteria outlined in Marie’s framework in that she has written books for very young children, novels for children and adolescents, and in a variety of genres including: poetry, prose, anthologies of short stories and historical fiction, and continues to actively write on a broad spectrum of issues such as immigration, identity, civil rights, and friendship. In short, we see her as an author who will grow with young readers.

Additionally, Ryan’s work fits our thinking of how an author can act as a mentor for global citizenship. Ryan’s work presents readers a plethora of possibilities for cultural and global explorations that encourage, as Short outlines in her framework for exploring a curriculum that is international.

Reading the word and the world with a ‘critical eye’ [providing] the opportunity to talk about important social and political questions such as; what it means to be human; the relative worth of people from various racial, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic communities; the value of particular kinds of actions; and how we can relate to one another” (Short, 2003).

Many teachers will be familiar with these themes in her most known book, Esperanza Rising, but titles such as When Marian Sang, Riding Freedom, and The Dreamer also deeply explore issues of human experience and relationship.

Exploring Thematic Ties: Crossing Borders

In thinking about the breadth of Ryan’s work we see the generative theme of Crossing Borders as a unifying concept that could be explored throughout her work. Muňoz Ryan’s books “Cross Borders,” both literally (geographically), in books about other locations, cultures, and immigration like Esperanza Rising, The Dreamer, and Becoming Naomi Leon. Her books also look at “Crossing Borders” within one’s community (see the latest issue of WOW Stories for articles about teaching about cultures that are local, but different http://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/storiesiii1/2/ ) through global, historical and multicultural explorations. In her anthology of short stories, First Crossing, she writes about teenagers from different cultures exploring what they think it means to be “Americans,” while teachers of younger children might want to explore Nacho and Lolita, a picture book portraying issues of difference and friendship. Additionally Muňoz looks at historical “Border Crossers” in When Marian Sang, about the extraordinary life of Marian Anderson, the first African American to give a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and as such, changed history, and Amelia and Eleanor go for a Ride, about the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart, and how they challenged notions of appropriate behavior for women. Similarly, the fictional novel Riding Freedom tells the story of a girl growing up in an all boys orphanage during the mid-1800’s, and how she confronts society’s expectations of being female and the limitations placed on her aspirations.

In interviews and author notes, Ryan also discusses the impact that literal and cultural ‘Border Crossings” have had on her family and her story telling—Esperanza Rising is the story of her own grandmother, an immigrant from Mexico who faced inter-family complications, the death of her father, and the challenge of facing a new language, culture, and social class when arriving in the United States.

Instructional Ideas for Interacting with Pam Muňoz Ryan’s Work and Words

Although many students may not have crossed the same “geographical” borders featured in Esperanza Rising or other books by Muňoz Ryan, the notion of cultural, classed, and gendered borders are common to all students. Engaging with a study of her work and words could open up powerful spaces for critical exploration of borders—or boundaries—and ways in which students can challenge such paradigms.

•What other authors for children and adolescents that, like Muňoz Ryan, might inspire students to explore cultural, classed, and gendered borders as readers and writers?
•We’d love to hear your reactions to Ryan’s work. What titles inspire you and your students? What possibilities for global inquiry could you recommend connected to her work?

Journey through Worlds of Words during our open reading hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To view our complete offerings of WOW Currents, please visit archival stream.

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13 thoughts on “Reading as a Collaborative Act: Crossing Borders with Pam Muñoz Ryan

  1. Emily Cunningham says:

    I love Pam Muňoz Ryan. I currently have a book club in my classroom reading Esperanza Rising, and every year our 4th graders read Riding Freedom in Spanish. One of the advantages for our school when using Ryan’s works is that they are available in Spanish and English (we are a dual language school). They are also high level, thought provoking books that connect our students with a bilingual author.

    There are so many authors out there that can be used as mentors for students writing. One of my favorites is Patricia Polacco. She has written so many books on so many different topics that it is easy for students to connect with her writing. I use her work primarily for a unit on personal narratives.

    I am currently writing a unit using Anthony Browne’s books for a beginning of the year unit on critical analysis of books, teaching kids about books and how to discuss and analyze books both for content and illustrations.

  2. Joy Stewart says:

    I just returned from a visit to Omaha, Nebraska, where I picked up a copy of Riding Freedom because it was featured in an exhibition of Brian Selznick’s children’s books illustrations. I read the book on my return flight to Tucson. I couldn’t put the book down. The text was as engaging as the illustrations. What a lovely surprise to see the author featured in World of Words.

  3. Sarah Wise says:

    I really think it is important for children to have multicultural books that they can connect to. I personally love Patricia Pollaco. I am studying education and it’s nice to see new ideas that people have used in their classroom. I will have to find more Pam Muňoz Ryan books.

  4. Annette Fiedler says:

    As my interest and curiosities of Multicultural texts escalates, I would like to come in contact with Pam Munoz Ryan’s literature for my own classroom use. It seems as if her literature exhibits a wide variety of cultrual diversities that children in today’s society must be exposed to. This can be a great start to “author” studies in my classroom and therefore sparking students interest and aspriations to reading more culturally relevant material and becoming “culturally aware.”

  5. Elizabeth says:

    Esperanza Rising is my all time favorite book that Pam Munoz Ryan wrote. The degree in which Esperanza must grow and change is a perfect example of the hardships that kids not only from priveleged backgrounds such as herself face in coming to a new country, but all children when they are faced with the harsh realities.

  6. Theresa says:

    Esperaza Rising was one of favorite books, but I recently completed The Dreamer and it is a wonderful book. Think I have found a new favorite. The Dreamer is a fictional book meshed with facts of the life of Pablo Neruda, the Nobel Prize-winning poet. It is about Pablo’s struggles with his father’s negativity and his own desire to write poetry. Nature and the rights of his indigenous Mapuche people motivate much of his writings. The main character, Pablo, demonstrates how a person can face hardships, sadness and family requirements and still be who you are. Awesome book!

  7. Carilyn Cash says:

    I have read read both Esperanza Rising and Becoming Naomi Leon, both are great books. I really enjoy reading books by Pam Munoz Ryan. I would love to find more books by her that are Kindergarten friendly as that is the grade I feel most at home with.
    I loved Esperanza Rising, watching how Esperanza basically goes from a spoiled rich girl in Mexico to a migrate worker in California. Her trasformation and struggles really illustrated how several Mexican immigrants felt and the lifestye they had to have in order to make it in the United States, which definately did not turn out to be the life they that came dreaming about!

  8. Salina says:

    Esperanza Rising is a book that I use during literature circles because of it’s content and openness to dialog about immigration and social class. My students can relate to this book, and I think it’s important that the book ends with Esperanza realizing what makes a person rich. It really has nothing to do with money or worldly goods.

  9. Rae Etta Zuniga says:

    When I see a book by this author, I know it will be perfect for my students who relate to her stories and characters so much. I did the soap carving activity after reading Naomi Leon. That was so much fun and my classroom never smelled cleaner. Pam Munoz Ryan writes stories that even the most reluctant boy readers thoroughly enjoy!

  10. Celina Lopez says:

    Another author who could inspire readers in a multicultural approach would be Laura Resau. I recently read her novel What the Moon Saw and thought it was an amazing story which could open many conversations for students. This book would be an excellent read which could lead to many in depth conversations about immigration, multiculturalism and humanity.

    Like so many, I love Esperanza Rising too! This is one of my all time favorite books on crossing borders and overcoming oppression within society and within ourselves. I recently ended my school year with reading this book. This book led to many grand conversations and critical discussions about immigration and human rights in general.

  11. Amanda says:

    Esperanza Rising is on of my favorite books! I have read it to my students and they have engaged in great discussions on it. They are only second graders, but with guidance they have been able to explore more and talk about it. I want to bring more of her books into my classroom.

    I have also read many of her other books and I have enjoyed each one of them. Pam Munoz Ryan is an inspirational writer.

  12. tabitha kline says:

    Another great author is Judith Ortiz Cofer. The book Call Me Maria also discusses the cultural and class boarders of a teenage girl from Puerto Rico.

  13. Alicia M, Fagan says:

    In my classroom I like for students to focus on authors. I feel that once students become familiar with an author and their work, the gain a sense of owner ship and feel like literary experts. This boosts their confidence as readers.
    Munoz-Ryan is a great example of an author that students find intriguing, the enjoy learning about her life and reading her work.

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