Nicole Eisbrouch

Many books read throughout the year could be argued as being poorly chosen and consequently removed from the curriculum. One of the books that people don’t think very highly of is The House on Mango Street. This book is a coming to age story about a girl named Ezperanza, and her life growing up. The book is written in vignettes, which are short stories and could be difficult to follow if not read carefully. Additionally the book is slow moving without much action and could be viewed as boring and challenging to finish. In contrast to The House on Mango Street one should consider the book The Pact to take its place. The story line in The Pact would interest students where as The House on Mango Street falls short on reader interest. The Pact is a Jodi Picoult novel about two teenagers, Chris and Emily, who grew up doing everything together. As they mature they realize they are in love and cant live without each other. When Emily suddenly is either killed or committed suicide, Chris instantly becomes the primary suspect. Throughout the story clues and evidence are uncovered. By the end of the book the whole mystery unfolds learning the dangers that teenagers come across. The House on Mango Street does not provide the students with critical knowledge where as The Pact will teach the students about life and death situations. Although The Pact could be argued to be inappropriate for high school students, one would agree that it is definitely the best choice to put in the curriculum.
The House on Mango Street does not capture the reader’s attention and intrigue the reader to keep reading. This may cause students to not read the book, which will result in a decrease of grades. The more the person enjoys reading the book the better their grades will be. Also The Pact’s storyline is more relatable than The House on Mango Street because where we live the diversity level is very low and in the book they talk about a different culture that we cant relate to. A major event in The Pact is suicide. Many teenagers around have thought about even considered suicide and this is where The Pact can relate to the students. Many people would argue that reading about suicide would only hurt the students, but really it is teaching them about the risks and dangers of a real life situation. Also many kids could consider The House on Mango Street very difficult to read due to the way it’s written. The vignettes chop the story up and prevent the book from having a flow. Another main reason is that many teenagers might feel weird about talking to their parents or someone else about suicide or pregnancy, so reading The Pact may help them deal with whatever they are dealing with.
One main component to a book is that it teaches you something. After reading a book, the reader should have grown in someway and learned something they never thought about before. The House on Mango Street does not expand the reader’s knowledge on anything; however, The Pact teaches about a teenager’s life. Throughout the book discussion about teenage pregnancy and suicide occur. Most people didn’t know that female teenagers between the ages of 15-19 are three times more likely to attempt suicide than males between the same ages. A lot of these attempts are due to teenage pregnancies where the father either doesn’t know about the baby or doesn’t wish to do anything about it. Ezperanza’s life story does not contribute any knowledge on anything other than the hardships she had to face.
Most of the books we read relate to each other as a coming of as story. The House on Mango Street along with many other books this year tell a story about someone’s life and how they got to that situation. Also many of them start from the end and the whole book is a flashback. Since many of them are similar, adding The Pact into the mix would create new conversation and would bring a new idea to the table. Throughout reading The Pact, different emotions and at times the story gets really intense. No other books we have read this year gave you the feeling like you have to keep reading to find out what is going to happen. The Pact brings new depth to reading in school and would make it more enjoyable for students.
The Pact may seem like a typical everyday love story but there are heart wrenching moments in it when you cant believe what just happened. The Pact couldn’t be compared to The House on Mango Street due to the different styles of the books and different intensities. The part lacking from The House on Mango Street is that the students could not relate at all to what Ezperanza was going through whereas in The Pact, the reader can relate their whole life to what is happening in the story. Removing The House on Mango Street from the curriculum could majorly benefit the students not only on a school level but in their personal lives as well.