76 pages • 2 hours read
Summer of the Mariposas
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Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Prologue-Chapter 3
Reading Check
1. What creatures appeared after the long drought?
2. What interrupts the Garza sisters’ peaceful summer swim?
3. Who does Odilia try to save from drowning?
4. Who does Odilia meet down by the river on the morning her sisters get ready to drive to Mexico?
5. Who lives near El Sacrificio, Mexico, and why do the girls want to go there?
6. What reasons do the girls have for not going to the authorities? (Name two)
Multiple Choice
1. In the Prologue, McCall writes, “There [the river] pooled, relaxed, cleansed itself, and bubbled into laughter at the sheer joy of having us in its midst.” This sentence is an example of what kind of figurative language?
A) Verbal irony
B) Characterization
C) Simile
D) Personification
2. Based on Odilia’s conversation with La Llorona in Chapter 3, which of these is likely NOT a theme or motif in this story?
A) Innocence and pureness of heart
B) Family ties
C) Selfish self-sacrifice
D) Change, or transformation
3. Using La Llorona as a character and comparing her hair to Medusa’s are both examples of which literary device?
A) Allusion
B) Illusion
C) Characterization
D) Dramatic irony
4. What role do Odilia and her sisters play in the novel?
A) Ingenues
B) Captives
C) Antagonists
D) Protagonists
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Describe the Garza sisters and their relationships with one another.
2. Does Juanita’s idea make her a crazy dreamer (quixotic), a compassionate do-gooder (altruist), or something else? Use details to defend your answer, and feel free to make predictions about future events in the text.
3. Which details and story elements make this novel realistic?
4. Which details and story elements introduce elements of the supernatural?
Chapters 4-6
Reading Check
1. Where does Odilia tell her sisters she got the earrings?
2. What is Odilia’s first wish with the earrings?
3. Why do the sisters label Pita (the youngest sister) a narc?
4. What do the girls find when they awake from their nap?
5. What is going on at Gabriel Perdido’s home when the girls arrive at his pink house in El Sacrificio?
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following is not evidence that Odilia has begun to change after crossing the border into Mexico?
A) She helps Juanita convince the suspicious store owners that their “papá” is alive by buying six sodas.
B) She encourages the girls to get along with one another.
C) She comforts Pita when the others won’t.
D) She turns off the radio and insists that they must pray for the duration of their trip.
2. In El Sacrificio, the girls meet a dog named Serberús. This is an example of which literary device?
A) Allusion
B) Illusion
C) Characterization
D) Dramatic irony
3. Compared to his friendly nature, Serberús’s name is an example of which type of irony?
A) Situational irony
B) Classical Irony
C) Dramatic Irony
D) Verbal Irony
4. Which detail is not evidence that the twins are high maintenance?
A) They fret over what they might look like on TV and argue in favor of going home to change clothes before calling the authorities.
B) They carry perfume and put makeup on Perdido before the girls begin their trip.
C) They refuse to pee outside, always making the sisters bike to the nearest gas station.
D) They have hot tempers and always say what’s on their minds no matter whose feelings they hurt.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does La Llorona function as a guide in the novel so far?
2. What does the girls’ encounter with Serberús signify?
3. Recall the scene in which Gabriel Perdido reunites with his family and they find out he is dead. Odilia compares it to a “B-Movie,” but how is it also like a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy?
4. The first six chapters of this novel fall under a section titled “The Departure.” Describe this section in terms of plot structure. How does it compare to other epic tales or Bildungsromane?
Chapters 7-10
Reading Check
1. For what does Odilia use her second wish?
2. What does Odilia see on the front page of the newspaper she picks up for Inés?
3. Why do the girls worry that they might be arrested?
4. What does Cecilia feed the girls after she takes them to her house?
5. What does Odilia use her third wish for? How many wishes does she have left?
6. What does Cecilia do to the girls after they taunt her?
Multiple Choice
1. “Don’t add too much cream to the tacos” is a Garza family _________.
A) Clarification
B) Idiom
C) Hyperbole
D) Omen
2. How does McCall reveal the newspaper’s contents to readers in Chapter 8?
A) Character development
B) Plot development
C) Basic reprint in the text
D) Dialogue between characters
3. What is the intended effect of McCall’s choice to reveal the newspaper this way?
A) It keeps readers from knowing too much too soon.
B) It allows readers to draw their own conclusions.
C) It misleads readers about the amount of danger the Garza sisters are in.
D) It keeps readers engaged while advancing the plot.
4. In Chapter 10, the girls drink well water that revives them, meet Teresita the seer, and learn of the demons Cecilia sent after them. What is the narrative function of this chapter?
A) These are all inciting incidents that set the girls on their journey.
B) These events raise the stakes for the Garza girls, add suspense, and keep readers engaged.
C) These events allow the author to explain how the girls get a GPS locator so they don’t get lost in the desert.
D) None of the above are correct.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Describe Cecilia.
2. What conclusions do you draw about Juanita’s personality based on her liking the old wedding hat in Chapter 8?
3. Would Odilia’s sisters have listened to her if she had told them how necessary it is for the sisters to remain kind and humble on their journey? Why or why not?
4. Why does the narrative structure require that Odilia doesn’t warn her sisters until it’s too late?
Chapters 11-15
Reading Check
1. What unassuming form does the nagual take?
2. Where does the nagual take the Garza girls?
3. Who saves the girls from the nagual’s nasty plot?
4. How do the girls remember the song of the cave?
5. How do the girls vanquish the lechuzas?
6. What form does the chupacabras take?
7. How do the Gaarza girls vanquish the chupacabras?
Multiple Choice
1. As the girls argue over whether to hitch a ride on the mysterious donkey, Juanita tells Odilia to “stop being mulish and get up here” (Ch. 11). This is an example of which type of irony?
A) Cosmic irony
B) Verbal Irony
C) Dramatic Irony
D) Situational Irony
2. How does the author emphasize the nagual’s evil nature in Chapter 12?
A) Character: “[...] inching along the wall. He reluctantly made his way toward the cauldron. Suddenly, as if in slow motion, he turned sideways and made a dash for the mouth of the cave.”
B) Setting: “The fuming concoction sent swirls of steam up to the cave ceiling, where bats flapped their wings, clinging upside down from their claws, and pit vipers uncoiled themselves from thick iron hooks.”
C) Dialogue and action: “‘Tonantzin! Madre Santa, forgive me,’ the nagual begged as he cowered away from the radiance of the goddess.”
D) Plot Structure: McCall introduces the nagual before the girls know to be on high alert for evil in disguise.
3. In Chapter 13, McCall writes, “They looked like dried up pieces of fruit, desiccated human faces—witches with metallic beaks for lips.” What is the meaning of the word desiccated in this sentence?
A) Dried out
B) Rolled up
C) Flattened out
D) Pure evil
4. How does the author emphasize the magical nature of rest and safety at Hacienda Dorada in Chapter 15?
A) Character: “Abuelita Remedios was exactly as I remembered her. Her white-streaked hair was perfectly coiffed into a bun, and her blue eyes were sharp and fierce, centered over a long aquiline nose.”
B) Setting: “The lilac jacaranda tree by the gate, leaning backward over the fence as if the wind had made it laugh, was exactly as I remembered it.”
C) Dialogue and action: “‘We’re okay,’ I told Abuelita. ‘It’s Pita we’re worried about.’ [...] ‘Something bit her,” I said, not sure how much to disclose—not because I didn’t trust Abuelita, but because I wasn’t sure she’d believe me.”
D) Plot Structure: The Garza girls arrive at Hacienda Dorada directly after visiting Cecilia, so now they know the difference between a fake respite and a real one.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does McCall build tension in Chapter 12?
2. Why do the girls call Juanita a know-it-all or “Ms. Gifted-in-Everything?” (Ch. 13)
3. What do the lechuzas symbolize?
4. Did the girls do the right thing by letting the chupacabras go? Why or why not? Predict some possible outcomes of their decision.
Chapters 16-22
Reading Check
1. What stops the Garza girls from crossing the US-Mexico border by taxi?
2. Where do the girls go to ask for a miracle to get them home?
3. Who arrives on the hill as the girls pick roses for their mother?
4. Who arrives home the same day as the Garza girls?
5. To whom does Odilia realize she needs to give the flowers?
6. Which Lotería card is Mamá’s favorite?
Multiple Choice
1. What is the significance of the girls’ journey ending up at their swimming hole where the adventure started?
A) The river represents endings and beginnings. Arriving there means their journey has come to an end.
B) Their home has stayed the same, but the girls have returned home forever changed.
C) The river represents a safe place for the girls to escape to and find themselves safe from enemies.
D) Like The Odyssey, the whole point of the girls’ adventure was to come home.
2. Which characters does the author use to emphasize the significance and complexities of motherhood throughout the novel?
A) The Great Mother Tonantzin, La Llorona, Teresita (the seer), and las lechuzas
B) The lechuzas, Inés, The Garza girls’ mamá, and Abuelita Remedios
C) The Garza girls’ mamá, La Llorona, Abuelita Remedios, and The Great Mother Tonantzin
D) Teresita (the seer), Inés, The Great Mother Tonantzin, and the Garza girls’ mamá
3. In Chapter 19, the author writes: “Thick, molten hot anger welled up inside me as I waited for an explanation.” This sentence includes what type of figurative language?
A) Hyperbole
B) Metaphor
C) Simile
D) Oxymoron
4. The English header for Chapter 19 reads, “The musician is not a bullfighter, but he does know how to play and deceive.” What is the significance of this header and the contents of this chapter?
A) In this chapter, the girls learn that their papá is a manipulative pacifist like the bullfighter.
B) The girls’ papá is playful, but the header indicates that he becomes easily angered in this chapter.
C) The girls’ papá is a musician and the header foreshadows how he’s been lying to the family.
D) All of the above.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is the significance of the girls getting to meet Tonantzin and visit the ancient city of Tenochtitlán?
2. How do these encounters connect to the themes of the novel?
3. How does the showdown between the Garza sisters and their papá reveal the changes in Odilia’s character?
4. What noble characteristic does Odilia find within herself after seeing her father for the last time?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Prologue-Chapter 3
Reading Check
1. Butterflies (Prologue)
2. A dead body floating in the river, right into their swimming hole (Prologue)
3. Two little boys who belong to a woman who was chasing after them near the river (Chapter 3)
4. La Llorona (Chapter 3)
5. The Garza girls’ paternal grandmother lives there. They want to visit her and find out if she knows why their father left. They wonder if he is even still alive and well. (Chapter 1)
6. They shouldn’t be swimming in the river in the first place, they could get in trouble with their mother and not be able to go swimming anymore, border patrol might dump the body instead of returning the man to his family in Mexico, they might be on TV looking unkempt, and Juanita argues it’s fate that they found him and they have a duty to take the man home to Mexico. (Chapters 1 and 2)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. The Garza sisters are tight-knit. They are all strong-willed and have their personalities. Odilia is the oldest, the leader who is always caring for the others. Juanita is a little bit of a know-it-all and likes to also be in charge. She sometimes helps Odilia keep the younger ones in check, and sometimes argues with her about what’s right for the sisters. The twins are energetic, finish each other’s sentences, curse a lot, and are really pretty. They care a lot about personal appearances. Pita is the youngest, the baby. The twins pick on her often, and Odilia often comes to her rescue. Pita cannot keep a secret. (Supporting details come from throughout the text.)
2. Student answers will vary based on their opinions and predictions. Some supporting details are available in the text. For instance, students might opine and predict she’s a dreamer and use the novel’s supernatural elements as evidence. They will be wrong, but the answer can be supported. Astute readers will pick up on the girls' need to find answers about their father as a motivating factor for Juanita.
3. Student answers will vary. The characters and setting are strong realistic elements.
4. Student answers will vary. La Llorona, her children, the earring, and the omnipresent butterflies are all examples of supernatural elements.
Chapters 4-6
Reading Check
1. Odilia tells her sisters that she found the earrings. (Chapter 4)
2. Odilia uses her first wish to distract the US border/customs agent. (Chapter 4)
3. Pita keeps trying to run away and turn her sisters over to the authorities. (N/A)
4. The Garza sisters wake up covered in butterflies. (Chapter 5)
5. A quinceañera for Gabriel Perdido’s daughter (Chapter 6)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. In Chapter 4, La Llorona appears as a spectral figure who first tests Odilia’s character before deciding to help her. She knows things about the sisters and their future and offers a gift and advice that will steer them on their way. When La Llorona appears on the road in Chapter 5, Odilia gets the feeling she is needed back at her sister’s hiding spot. Students may have additional examples from the text.
2. If La Llorona isn’t enough evidence, a dog named for the famous 3-headed dog that guards the underworld greeting the Garza sisters cheerfully is a symbol that they have entered a reality dominated by the supernatural. The dog’s cheerfulness indicates that La Llorona was correct: the girls’ journey is important and being watched by helpful spirits. (Chapter 6)
3. The guests comment loudly and respond emotionally to the evening's turn of events, like a Greek chorus. They follow the main action around in a little group the way a chorus would. The grandfather speaks to the chorus, and they respond to him collectively. Perdido’s angry daughter refusing to welcome him back into her life even though he is dead highlights the entire family’s mixed emotions—just the kind that would lead to more tragedy. The ominously named dog is both comic relief and a dramatic symbol. (Chapter 6)
4. “The Departure” starts with the Garza girls experiencing the emotional loss of their father. Even though it’s been a year, their journey to Mexico is partially motivated by the need to find out the truth about why he left. These aspects align with the structure of the Bildungsroman. This first section is mostly exposition and some rising action. Since it ends with their successfully returning Perdido to his family, the rest of the story might be even more of an adventure for the Garza girls. “The Departure” is a setup for those adventures. Like in The Odyssey, the first part takes place in a world that is the girls’ home. (Students might not make all of these points, and will have to draw conclusions based on knowledge of the plot and other literary forms as much as on the contents of Chapters 1-6).
Chapters 7-10
Reading Check
1. She uses it to distract the Perdido women from asking too many more questions. (Chapter 7)
2. She sees herself and her sisters on the front page under a headline that says they are missing or disappeared. (Chapter 7)
3. They stole a car, didn’t report a dead body, and stole money that might be blood money. (Chapter 8)
4. Cecilia feeds the girls cold lemonade and sweets: pan dulces, pumpkin empanadas, all kinds of cakes, and petit fours. (Chapter 8)
5. She uses the wish to compel Cecilia to tell her the truth about how the girls can leave and where they can go next. There are two wishes left. (Chapter 9)
6. She curses them. (Chapter 9)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Cecilia is a witch in disguise. By day, she is sweet and indulgent. She dotes on the girls, giving them sweets and cold lemonade and allowing them to rest. She gives them rooms in her big pretty house, which has room enough for all the girls. At night, in her true form, Cecilia is a haggard old woman who looks on the brink of death. She puts poison/drugs in the sweets she makes for the girls. In the end, Odilia feels a little sorry for her since she’s under a curse. Still, the curse has hardened Cecilia's heart because she gets angry at the girls for daring to leave. (Chapters 8-9)
2. Juanita is not as vain as her younger sisters, the twins. She’s humble, quirky, fancy, but also flighty (because she drops the hat out the window). This trait aligns with her characterization as a dreamer—a fanciful hat for a fanciful girl. (Chapter 8)
3. Students can make arguments for either case as long as textual evidence supports their opinion. Stronger arguments with more evidence can be made based on the text so far. Textual support can come from Chapters 1-10.
4. From a writer’s perspective, Odilia’s hiding the warning facilitates both plot and character development. At this point in the story, Odilia isn’t confident in her own leadership or even that what the girls are experiencing is real. It’s not real enough for her to want to try to convince her sisters, especially at the beginning of their trip. Also, if she told them and they listened to her, there wouldn’t be a need for the sisters to have the kind of character development that typically comes from this type of journey.
Chapters 11-15
Reading Check
1. He appears as a donkey towing an empty wagon. (Chapter 11)
2. He takes the girls to a dark cave, likely one of the places on the map that Teresita’s husband had told them to stay away from. (Chapters 11-12)
3. The Great Mother, La Virgin de la Cueva, Tonantzin (any of these are correct and can generally be used interchangeably in reference to the novel), who says the girls are under her protection. (Chapter 12)
4. Odilia uses her fourth wish to jog her memory. (Chapter 12)
5. Odilia uses a silk thread that she pulls from the ribbon on Pita’s dress to tie the knots and say the appropriate prayers. She and her sisters kill the first six lechuzas with garden tools they find in the barn. (Chapter 13)
6. He appears as an orphan goatherd boy named Chencho. (Chapter 14)
7. They blind him in his right eye—the left eye was already blind—but they don’t vanquish him. They decide to be merciful and spare him because he lost his mother. (Chapter 14)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Student answers should focus on the author’s use of description and word choice for setting, character, and dialogue in Chapter 12.
2. Juanita often corrects her sister’s vocabulary or uses words they don’t even understand. For example, during the showdown with the lechuzas, she takes time to inform Odilia that a group of owls is called a parliament, not a brood. (Student answers can come from any portion of the text up to this point in the reading, but should focus on this aspect of Juanita’s personality.)
3. The lechuzas represent their victims’ insecurities and fears. They say the things the girls fear others might think of them. (Chapter 13)
4. Student answers will vary based on opinion, and textual evidence can come from anywhere in the first 15 chapters of the novel.
Chapters 16-22
Reading Check
1. The girls don’t have their papers or birth certificates. (Chapter 16)
2. The girls’ grandmother parks in front of a church dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Great Mother. They go inside there to pray and use the last wish. (Chapter 17)
3. Border patrol picks the girls up by the river. (Chapter 17)
4. Their papá (Chapter 18)
5. La Llorona (Chapters 20-21)
6. The heart (Chapter 20)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Visiting the Great Mother in her Aztec form on the cactus throne and seeing the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan both represent cultural homecomings for the five sisters. Their mother’s family has Aztec roots. The sisters getting to see where they came from and how their ancient ancestors made a life for themselves completes the girls’ personal growth and brings them closer to one another. The love they feel from the Great Mother and her promise to always watch over them invigorates the girls’ love for their mother and bolsters their confidence as they go home and find themselves confronting the lack of love their father has for them and their mother. (Chapters 18-22)
2. Since this story is ultimately about motherhood/motherly love, female solidarity, and Mexican cultural legacy, the scenes with The Great Mother Tonantzin and the ancient Aztec city combine those themes, bringing the entire story full circle. The scenes following their encounter depict the girls overcoming their father’s betrayal by sticking together and honoring their mother. Their encounters with their guides throughout the text celebrate their unique qualities, which boosts the Garza sisters’ confidence. (Student evidence can combine examples throughout the text with pre-reading or background knowledge.)
3. During those scenes, Odilia feels overwhelmed with anger, but having been with her sisters all summer and through the adventure in Mexico has developed her patience. She works to keep it in check. When she feels like her father might be up to something, she trusts her instincts rather than doubting them. She’s finally gained confidence in herself and her intuition. She also displays confidence by carefully choosing her words as she challenges her father. These are all markers of increased maturity. (Chapter 19)
4. Student answers may vary based on selected details, opinion, and vocabulary. Possible answers include forgiveness (which is a form of love), resolution, and resilience.
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