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Garden Heights

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The House on Mango Street — Sandra Cisneros
Garden Heights · Independent Novel Study

The House on Mango Street

a novel by Sandra Cisneros
Library  ›  The House on Mango Street
✦GODLevel 7 · High School TrackUS Grades 9–12Lexile 870LAR (ATOS) 4.5 · First published 1984
📖 Read the book first: you need a copy of The House on Mango Street to use this workbook. Recommended edition: Vintage Contemporaries paperback, ISBN 9780679734772. Another edition works if you can follow the titled vignettes. All recommended editions →
Subject Personalities
The real-world subjects this novel study leans into — the depth behind every Knowledge Bank and reading passage.
PRIMARY LENS
🏔️ Mexican American Chicago
Rail yards and stockyards, the families sent south in the 1930s, redlining maps and the Fair Housing Act, the Division Street riots and the small Houston press that first printed the book — dated, checkable history behind the street.
SUPPORTING
📖 A Novel in Vignettes
Forty-four short chapters, a narrator’s growing voice, motifs set side by side, windows and confinement, allusion, a prose poem about four trees, and an ending that circles back to the start.
SUPPORTING
🧬 The World Beyond the Block
The Chinese zodiac, how clouds got their names, the story of linoleum, kohl and the Egyptian eye, opera, the Three Fates, and why people fear neighbors they have never met.
8-Part Novel Study
Choose a Part
VocabularyReading IntelligenceLiterary ElementsThink DeeperBig QuestionAcademic Reading Challenge
Progress
PT1
Part 1 · Vignette 1 (“The House on Mango Street”) to Vignette 5 (“Cathy Queen of Cats”)
A family that finally owns a house, though not the one they dreamed of, four kinds of hair, a name that came down from a great-grandmother, and a neighbor girl who will not stay long.
Start →
PT2
Part 2 · Vignette 6 (“Our Good Day”) to Vignette 11 (“Marin”)
A bike bought with new friends, a laugh that sisters share, a junk store with a music box, a house with a tree to climb, and Marin, who dreams of a life far from the block.
Start →
PT3
Part 3 · Vignette 12 (“Those Who Don’t”) to Vignette 16 (“And Some More”)
Outsiders afraid of a street they do not know, a mother with too many children to watch, Alicia studying late at night, a boy who says something wise about clouds, and an argument over their names.
Start →
PT4
Part 4 · Vignette 17 (“The Family of Little Feet”) to Vignette 21 (“The First Job”)
Three pairs of high heels, a school lunch Esperanza begs to eat, a dance in the wrong shoes, a jump-rope game about growing up, and a first job.
Start →
PT5
Part 5 · Vignette 22 (“Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”) to Vignette 26 (“Edna’s Ruthie”)
A father’s news before dawn, an aunt Esperanza wishes she had treated better, a fortune-teller at her kitchen table, a man known only by his first name, and a grown woman who plays with the children.
Start →
PT6
Part 6 · Vignette 27 (“The Earl of Tennessee”) to Vignette 32 (“Sally”)
A neighbor with a jukebox, a boy who looks back, four skinny trees, a woman who will not learn English, a wife kept at the window, and a friend named Sally.
Start →
PT7
Part 7 · Vignette 33 (“Minerva Writes Poems”) to Vignette 38 (“The Monkey Garden”)
A young mother who writes poems, a dream house with room in the attic, a choice to be beautiful and cruel, a mother’s advice, and a garden where childhood ends.
Start →
PT8
Part 8 · Vignette 39 (“Red Clowns”) to Vignette 44 (“Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes”)
A friend’s new marriage, three aunts at a wake, a talk on Edna’s steps, the house Esperanza will make her own, and a promise to come back.
Start →
📄 Printable Teacher & Student PDFs — see all Workbook PDFs →