what they do and do not think about any more than we can dictate the rate of their physical and mental development.  It's a puritanical streak in our society that is sometimes very frustrating to me.

I agree with the above post in that an 8th grader would be able to understand the basic story; however, the issue dealing with Esperanza's rape and abuse and other scenes regarding sexual violence are not appropriate for a middle school reader.  These issues are best left to high school readers who are beginning to become mature enough to handle this type of content.  There are plenty of young adult novels written for middle school students, so there's no reason to force this one.

The previous response's closing comments were extremely valid.  In the final analysis, it is dependent on the teacher and how comfortable they feel in teaching the material and concepts to any grade of child.  I do believe it is highly appropriate for 8th graders, but this is contingent on the instructor's willingness to engage students in as open of a discussion of identity, narrative, voice, and exploration as Cisneros poses to the reader.  Certainly, if the instructor is not comfortable bringing this discussion into the open to students, any work, not just Cisneros', will be rather uninspiring and probably ineffective.  Yet, if the instructor is able to bring out contextual elements which present themselves in the story and develop an understanding about these ideas in a larger group, the work can be quite powerful for many different age groups of students.

The language of the book is certainly simple enough for 8th graders, but we teach the book in our school district in the 10th grade because we focus on the complexity of Cisneros's themes and style.  An 8th grader could comprehend the book, and I think that the ideas and topics in the collection are appropriate for that age, especially since Esperanza is observing other "women" so that she knows how to be a woman.

So, the answer to your question depends on what a teacher wants students to focus on in the book.

I think that with any work of literature, it is important to ensure that proper instruction, formal or informal, accompanies it to guarantee comprehension of concepts.  The information given about the student is a bit too vague, so the only one that will be able to make this call is someone with a great deal of insight.  There are some items to take into account.  On one hand, the book deals with Esperanza's coming of age and much that goes along with it.  There are open discussions of sexuality and victimization as a result.  There is a frank openness about how individuals might not fit into the social order and what it means to be different from others.  As with many books about girls' coming of age, it is something that addresses how self- perception can be an awkward process and this might be something where difficulty will arise in terms of questions being raised.  I think that there is a level of accompaniment that will be needed with a work of this magnitude.  Fifth grade might be a challenging time to start addressing the issues raised in the book, something that presumes adolescence has already been well started.  Ethnicity is not the defining element in reading this book.  I think that gender plays more of an essential role. This is not saying that it should not be read, but the mature level of discussion that is evident in the work has to be broached with a sense of guidance and caution in making sure that adult accompaniment is present with the child reading it.  If this is not there, I would not think that the book is something that can be easily read by a fifth grader and grasped.