Parent reviews for The House on Mango Street

My 15 yo loves to read and this was an honors English 9 book this year. It was terrible!! The stories were totally disjointed, uninteresting and kind of weird (like what message are you really trying to send to the kids?). It is, however, pretty short. Not worth reading and would not recommend as part of an ELA curriculum.

DO NOT let you child read this book. In general, it is a morbidly creative way to tell a story filled with depression, dysfunctionality, and looking at all things through a pessimistic lens. "Oh, but did you read the end?" Is what on school staffer asked me. Does it matter that the last chapter is lighter and shows the main character overcoming all of the horrible experiences? No, not when my child has already had to read, IN DETAIL, about the main character's terrible experience with teen sex and how her friend "Sally" was taken by a group of boys and raped, or how she expresses her desire to end her life in multiple forms. So not only is the book dark and depressing, it is exposing pornographic content to our kids. There are MANY ways to teach kids about the "real world" and how to react and overcome challenges than having them read books like this, which essentially takes their minds to the darkest of places and ignites the imagination into the perverse. Sex is a beautiful thing in the proper context. If a young woman's first impression of sex comes from this book, her idea of it will be completely tainted and add to her dysfunctionality, not keep her from it. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is already gone themselves. They have let the lines of morality, decency, and what should and should not be acceptable to kids, slip away. GET THIS BOOK OUT OF YOUR KIDS VIEW FAST!

I am a student but this is my parent's account. Essentially as I was reading this, It dealt with sad and downright depressing matters, such as suicide and rape. It made me sad and disgusted to read this book. It is sickening and is sad.

I currently am an English Major and had to read this book for an educational project and I find that the reviews on this book are rather harsh. I read this book not knowing what to expect, but from what I've read from these comments people really are mad that this book is different. Yes, the story is fragmented but do you know what it is like to not know English and only speak in fragments? Yes, this story is at times inappropriate, but do you know what it is like to live on a street like Esperanza? I do not think that these very fortunate critics of the books do. But, of course this is a great generalization. However, if you do want to read something that is within your comfort zone choose a book with a white protagonist! I'm pretty sure someone like Nancy Drew would tickle your fancy.

The House on Mango Street is an incredible book for a plethora of reasons. It seems likely that the reviews written here vilifying the book were done by those that care little about Literature, exposure to different cultures, or stories that resonate with adolescents. Yes, the book contains a very vague scene of sexual assault that will likely only be understood by more mature readers. For public school classrooms with diverse make ups, this is a great book to read. It teaches girls from communities to stand up for themselves and question the ways society hurts them. It teaches all readers to dream big, reach their full potential, and learn from bad situations around them, as well as how what we are surrounded with impacts who we are. Inspiring, thought provoking, hopeful, and heart breaking all at once. If you feel that this book is "inappropriate" I strongly suggest you visit any real life middle school and you'll find that this book is much easier to digest than the real situations many of your children's peers are likely facing.

This book is so fragmented, I am surprised it is being used by HS English teachers. No, I am not surprised, for it is being used to inculcate our boys to view themselves as assailants (or potential ones); the book vilifies men. Typical of HS English teachers who want to indoctrinate kids that we live in a rape culture and force male guilt upon our boys. Only the female characters seem to have any honor. This book should NOT be used in a classroom setting.

My 16-year-old sophomore daughter and 18-year-old senior son both were reading this book in their English classes. This book was the most appalling, Inappropriate book I have ever seen. It is heavy with sexuality, depicting men as animals, rape etc…. I don’t see how in the world this book is appropriate for any child that is school-aged. The fact that this book made it in the curriculum makes me sick to my stomach.

This book isn't trying to tell a completely cohesive story, its trying to shed some light onto really important subjects in what is probably the most effective way. If it was cohesive, it would remove a lot of what makes this book powerful. So much of this book is just trying to portray to the reader that the tragic things that happen really do happen, and they happen often at that. Its nonrecurring character, after nonrecurring character going through tragedy through the eyes of an innocent young girl who doesn't think too much of it, she's used to it, which makes it all the more horrifying because there in lies the implication that that these things that are absolutely horrid happen over and over. If there was a cohesive story, it would remove so much of the books ability to call the readers to action. They would think "oh its just a story" but its not just a story.

Confusing writing style, extremely short, 0/10 . This book was probably one of the worst books I've ever read.

The house on mango street is a terrible book, with a confusing writing style, a blank slate of a character, and things that happen for no reason, the house on mango street breaks multiple rules of story writing, as it tries to build a community and tell a story in it. The writing style hinders what could be an interesting story. characters appear and disappear, things happen for no apparent reason. i do NOT recommend this book. it is a waste of time.