Introduction


Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros grew up so poor she says her neighborhood seemed like a war zone. There were broken buildings all around her that looked like they had been bombed. The empty buildings made her feel lonely. She was also very shy. And her family moved a lot, which meant that she never had lasting friendships. She also felt different from her classmates, who didn’t have to struggle to learn a new language and who looked so much more like the people Cisneros saw on TV. So she turned to writing to express her emotions. Her first novel, The House on Mango Street, proved successful because it was one of the few that captured Cisneros’ feelings about growing up Latina in the United States. Only when she was able to celebrate her sense of being different did she truly find her voice.

Essential Facts

  1. Cisneros won the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (often called the “genius award” and worth thousands of dollars) in 1995.
  2. For two years, the San Antonio city council objected to the color (purple) that Cisneros painted her house. She didn’t care.
  3. Her most recognized work of fiction, House on Mango Street has sold over two million copies and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Most middle schools, high schools, and colleges use the book as required reading.
  4. Cisneros lives with six dogs, four cats, and a parrot called Augustina.
  5. When asked what makes a story good, Cisneros has answered that stories should make you laugh or cry. And if it is really good, she says, the story should make you do both.