I've read this book twice. The first was by myself a few years ago, around fifth grade. That wasn't the right time to read it, because I couldn't appreciate the beauty and simplicity in Sandra Cisnero's writing.
This year, we read most of "The House on Mango Street" in English with my amazing teacher Mrs. Rudin. Before reading it, however, we read a poem (or incredibly short story - it was a page) by S.C. first, to get a sense of her writing. It was incredibly beautiful, about a boy. There is this one paragraph where his little brothers drop their crayons all over the cross walk accidentally. The boy bends down and hurriedly picks up the "fingers of colors," that were splashing out upon the street.
Where many books use so much description that one feels like one is simply reading about the atmosphere in the book, Sandra Cisneros uses the least amount of words that she can, but speficially chooses the words that will have the most power, the most meaning.
What beauty there is in simplicity.