When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

This memoir describes the author’s childhood in rural Puerto Rico in the 1950s and Brooklyn, New York from 1963 to 1964. Esmeralda Santiago tells the story of her family’s struggles and triumphs, both personal and social, as her single mother, her siblings, and she live with and through injury, welfare, loss of loved ones, loss of love, and leaving their homeland of Puerto Rico for the United States. In When I Was Puerto Rican themes revolve around family roles and relationships, national identity, social classes, personal identity, and autonomy.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.