 "Photo: Arte Público Press")
Two challengers met on Feb 24 in battle — a battle of the books, to be specific. Every year Chaffey’s One Book One College program selects one book that will be recommended reading for the whole campus. Events are held throughout the school year to promote the chosen book, such as readings and the screening of related movies. There are also efforts to incorporate the book into some class’ curricula, and scholarships for student essays and other writing related to the book.
This is the untold story of how one book is chosen to be read on campus — the story of how one book becomes celebrated by faculty and students, while the other is jeered all the way home as an inadequate loser. Well, maybe it isn’t quite that epic.
In this year’s Battle of the Books, two books were presented for consideration. English instructor Neil Watkins presented The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, while art instructor Denise Johnson and Rebecca Trawick, Director of the Wignall Museum, presented The Mistress’s Daughter, by A.M. Homes.
Watkins presented The House on Mango Street as a story about dreams, such as the dream of having a house. The book follows Esperanza, an adolescent Mexican-American girl, as she deals with the struggles of growing up in what Watkins referred to as a “once-upon-a-time version of Chicago.” Watkins said The House on Mango Street deals with themes such as what it means to be an American, whether identity is mixed with names, the American Dream, and “what happens when that dream comes crashing down.”
Johnson and Trawick discussed The Mistress’s Daughter, a memoir in which A.M. Homes details the frustration and discontent she experienced after meeting her biological parents for the first time.
This book explores how Homes’ reunion with her parents was unpleasant and not fulfilling, in contrast with the “blessed…peaceful and joyful” reunion often presented in stories of family reunion. Johnson and Trawick both mentioned that the book has strong personal meaning for them because they each share similar experiences with the author.
After the book presentations, those present for the Battle of the Books were asked to cast their votes (via anonymous paper ballot of course), and were left to wonder which story of alienation, family, and the search for identity would arise triumphant.
Fortunately the results of the vote were made available this week, and the winner is…
The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros! Anyone interested in The House on Mango Street can attend the One Book One College kick-off event on Monday, March 8, at 12:30 p.m. in the Faculty Success Center.
For those worried about an unexciting or unoriginal read, never fear - the book promises to be straightforward yet poetic, an easy read with much more to offer than meets the eye — but you don’t have to take my word for it.
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