The House on Mango Street

By: Sandra Cisneros

Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros

A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A coming-of-age classic about a young girl growing up in Chicago • Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world—from the winner of the 2025 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle.

“Cisneros draws on her rich [Latino] heritage...and seduces with precise, spare prose, creat[ing] unforgettable characters we want to lift off the page. She is not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one.” —The New York Times Book Review

The House on Mango Street is one of the most cherished novels of the last fifty years. Readers from all walks of life have fallen for the voice of Esperanza Cordero, growing up in Chicago and inventing for herself who and what she will become. “In English my name means hope,” she says. “In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting."

Told in a series of vignettes—sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous—Cisneros’s masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery and one of the greatest neighborhood novels of all time. Like Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street or Toni Morrison’s Sula, it makes a world through people and their voices, and it does so in language that is poetic and direct. This gorgeous coming-of-age novel is a celebration of the power of telling one’s story and of being proud of where you're from.




©1984 Sandra Cisneros; (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A classic. . . . This little book has made a great space for itself on the shelf of American literature.” —Julia Alvarez

“Afortunado! Lucky! Lucky the generation who grew up with Esperanza and The House on Mango Street. And lucky future readers. This funny, beautiful book will always be with us.” —Maxine Hong Kingston

“Cisneros draws on her rich [Latino] heritage . . . and seduces with precise, spare prose, creat[ing] unforgettable characters we want to lift off the page. She is not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Marvelous . . . spare yet luminous. The subtle power of Cisneros’s storytelling is evident. She communicates all the rapture and rage of growing up in a modern world.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“A deeply moving novel...delightful and poignant. . . . Like the best of poetry, it opens the windows of the heart without a wasted word.” —Miami Herald

“Sandra Cisneros is one of the most brillant of today’s young writers. Her work is sensitive, alert, nuanceful . . . rich with music and picture.” —Gwendolyn Brooks

Great story and narration!

I think that The House on Mango Street was a wonderful story! Also, I really enjoyed the narration by the author herself, Sandra Cisneros!

wonderful

wonderful collection of stories I felt like I was a part of each story I would recommend this book to all young girls a wonderful coming of age into Womanhood story it's innocent it's true beautiful

Great book!

I Ioved this book. great stories that brought me back to my childhood, thank you for writing this book.

Like a Tree Grows in Brooklyn but in Chicago

What a perfect little book and what a perfect little narration. Generally, authors are the last people to do their own books reading justice, but man is Cisneros wonderful here. The book reads like a bit more poetic riff on the narrative vector of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - young girl growing up poor in an urban area with all its peculiar idiosyncrasies.

Good book (recommended it)

This was a really great book I like reading this. There are funny weird and nice moments so please listen to this thank you and good bye

Childish Author

This immigrant story is told poetically. Some of the lines are truly verse and beautifully metaphoric. However, I did not care for the childish voice of the narrator as I felt the story was being told looking back on childhood. I think I would prefer this story read by a young woman and not someone who sounds as if they are 10-12 years old.

Wonderful

The author’s narration makes all the descriptions come alive. The stories are more like poems. There is honesty and subtlety.

Simply Amazing

I read this book with my Multicultural Lit students. We had great conversations about the vignettes and various themes & topics. A MUST read.

It was nice

I love it not at first but it gets way better and I can relate to her story thanks to the author 😉😄😄

Lyrical and Poetic

Would you consider the audio edition of The House on Mango Street to be better than the print version?

Cisneros (2009) a poet and great writer has portrayed the story of a Chicana (Mexican-American) with dreams beyond the young girls own understanding. The author provided lyrical vignettes to represent each character's role in the young girls life. Cisneros (2009) novel portrays a Chicana character that is living the life of almost every Latino I know, in terms of community and financial support and more importantly ideology. The awareness that her character is able to convey through language in this novel sets her apart from her community of neighbors, family, and friends, and givers her the opportunity to rise above, and escape. Through writing the character finds herself questioning her identity, her culture, and gender norms, specific not only to her culture, but to the society as a whole, like her relatives and peers. This character then transforms into an adolescent with poetic fashion. Great read, and even better performance on audible by the author herself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The House on Mango Street?

(spoiler) The Cisneros (2009) novel the character does share about sexual abuse and in this regard, has little memory around the incident in a chapter called “Red Clowns,” in which she shares her anger toward “Sally” for misguiding her ideas of what sex would be like.

Have you listened to any of Sandra Cisneros’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes once live, but only a reading at a book signing. She was wonderful in person, and this is why i originally bought the book to read. I was thrilled to see it on audible.

If you could take any character from The House on Mango Street out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Good question, Sally's character is intriguing, and I'd like to know more about her.

Any additional comments?

This is one you should listen to with your young adolescent, as it is thought provoking and the reader or listener may have a few questions. I think the author does a great job, however of describing life from a different perspective, one of oppression that is deep rooted, and difficult to escape.