Sandra Cisneros talked about The House on Mango Street and book banning with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi.
The House on Mango Street, first published by Arte Público Press in 1984, follows Esperanza Cordero, a Mexican American girl growing up in Chicago. It has been a frequent target of book banners because its themes include racism and sexuality.
Cisneros talked about the origin of her book, saying, “I wrote it simply so that I could unburden myself from stories that kept me up at night…I wrote [it] as a way to heal, because, as we know, books are medicine, as the poet Joy Harjo has said. I was astonished to see how librarians and teachers responded and helped make this book a bestseller.”
Cisneros addressed the challenges to her book. “One of the things I would like is to hear the people who have banned my book,” she said. “I want to hear, sincerely, have they read my book? Do they understand the work that the book is doing? Books are medicine, and if it’s not your prescription, that doesn’t mean you burn down the whole pharmacy. You understand, OK, this book is for someone else, it’s not for me or my family. And that’s what I want to talk about with people who feel they have to ban books. I really am in a place where I want to understand them.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
