I did a review of Hope and Fortune by Marissa Bañez last February 8, 2023.
I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from Ms. Bañez in response to my review particularly on the agency of Esperanza, the main character in the book.
Here is a snippet of Ms. Bañez reply to my review:
Esperanza is merely the conduit through which the fairies are introduced. My intention was to inject and immerse the reader directly into the story as the true recipient of the fairies' messages, which is why Esperanza vanishes and is literally out of the picture when the fairies speak. For her "to work hard and own the virtues bestowed upon her by the fairies" beyond her acknowledgment of their gifts to her at the end would break the fairy-reader connection that I wanted to establish. In fact, many young and not-so-young readers have told me how they felt personally touched by some of the fairies' messages as they related them to their own experiences. That's also why most reviewers comment on why Hope and Fortune should be read by adults for themselves and not just for their children. Even the manner in which Esperanza thanked the fairies at the end is deliberately written in the way that I wanted the reader to remember the fairies' messages. In short, most of the book isn't for -- or even about -- Esperanza at all.
To this, I sent back an email. I am sharing selected paragraphs here as well.
As a school librarian, I value this connection and discussion between text, reader, author and the community that we belong and share. I do respect your method and process thus my requests. It is important to see various points and perspectives in the literature that we are reading and engaging with given that we are in the age where our implicit biases and prejudices are unchecked. If left unexamined the door to empathy building remains shut. There is so much to take and learn from the stories of others. Different our views may be, we share our humanity.
I read Hope and Fortune from the context of a Filipino who grew up during the Martial Law years, with 300 years of Spanish colonization and 50 years of American rule in my collective history...
Having explained the context I bring in, reading Hope and Fortune, my inner child who grew up under colonial rule and dictatorship yearns to see on the pages of a book the agency to be allowed to wield my own power because, while fairies can bestow and generously bequeath gifts and graces, I too can do that and be the fairy for myself and for others.
From this exchange we can glean how books and stories figure dominantly in our lives. Books and stories bring people together. A story shared can bridge the past to the present providing sparks that can lead to more opportunities to tell stories.
Hope and Fortune is a modern-day fairytale, featuring multicultural, multiracial (e.g., Filipina, African-American, Latina, Asian, Muslim, etc.), multigenerational, and multigender (including a boy) fairies of different shapes and sizes who help a sad little child who has lost her way to find her path. Each fairy represents an ideal - Hope, Innocence and Wonder, Truth and Virtue, Generosity and Kindness, Strength and Courage, Respect and Dignity, Confidence, Imagination, Happiness, Beauty, Wisdom and Intelligence, and Love and Friendship. Although the protagonist is a little girl, the life advice given by the fairies is non-gender-specific and could resonate with anyone facing a difficult situation at any point in her/his/their life.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685131174
ISBN-12: 978-1685131174
Print copy pages: 46 pages
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