Beyond the Mango Tree, Miriam Bronwen Zemser (Greenwillow Books, 1998)

A couple of summers ago I searched for three books to use in a reading circle project I was developing for my intermediate ESL class. In a local book store I happened to find a gem called Beyond the Mango Tree, and immediately fell in love with it. Author Miriam Bronwen Zemser writes beautifully, using symbolism and developing the characters and psychological and sociological themes using quite an engaging, poetic style.

Tied to the Mango Tree
The book begins dramatically, when we meet the main character Sarina, an American girl whose father is working in Liberia, tied to a mango tree outside her family's house. Sarina's mother, who has serious medical and psychological illnesses, is so dependent on her daughter that she periodically ties Sarina to the mango tree in order to keep her from ever leaving the yard.

A poor Liberian boy named Boima enters her life, freeing her from the tree. Sarina wants to befriend Boima, but her mother opposes the friendship, due, in part, to her prejudice against Liberians and her own unhappiness at feeling ill,displaced and lonley in a foireign country.

Meanwhile, Sarina longs to meet other children her own age. TeTe, one of the Liberian house workers, tries to keep Sarina from sneaking off, fearing Sarina's strict mother will fire her if she does. Sarina occasionally manages to get away from the house with Boima, and the two share the world 'beyond the mango tree" -- beyond her isolated, protected, Americanized world. After jars of food begin disappearing from the pantry, Sarina finds out where they have gone to, and she struggles with issues of loyalty and values with Boima and TeTe.

Reading Circle Projects
The book has worked well in the two reading circle projects we have had in class. Students have said they were motivated to read it, pushing themselves to understand vocabulary beyond that which they normally use. The relationships between Sarina and other characters address many themes that adult students can relate to. These include moving from one's homeland to live in another country, institutionalized racism, being responsible beyond one's years, and the ethics of doing something illegal for a good reason, among others. I saw that the book encouraged much discussion and writing.

Diana Satin teaches ESL and computers/ESL, and is Staff Development Coordinator at the Jamaica Plain Community Centers' Adult Learning Program. She can be reached at 617-635-5201 or by e-mail at stevendiana@hotmail.com

The Reading Circle project was based on the work of Anna Safi at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island.