Throughout the book Esperanaza makes mention about the difference between a boys world, and the girls world in her town. Since Esperanza is telling the story we only get one opinion about the boys, and the girls and that's Esperanaza opinion. When reading the book I discovered that Esperanza is the oldest child in her family, and that she wants to have her own space to do what she wants to do. By being the oldest child in her family puts a great deal of stress on her back for example she has to take care of her younger sister. Esperanza had to play the role of the "mom" for her. Esperanaza chose not to let her younger sister hang out with the Vargas children. So Esperanaza had many responsibilities to worry about at such a young age. Esperanza my guess is about twelve or thirteen years old...