The Book of Unknown Americans
We read pages 1-47 Tuesday and 48-107 for today.
Write a short summary of a chapters so that it will be easier to find key scenes. This will help everyone when we begin looking for scenes to analyze.
Chapters
- Alma (3)
- Mayor (12)
- Rafael Toro (19)
- Alma (24)
- Mayor (37)
- Benny Quinto (44)
- Alma (48)
- Mayor (67)
- Gustavo Milhojas (87)
- Alma (91)
- Mayor (108)
- Quisqueya Solis (116)
- Alma (119)
- Mayor (127)
- Adolfo “Fito” Angelino (144)
- Alma (147)
- Mayor (156)
- Nelia Zafon (175)
- Alma (180)
- Mayor (203)
- Jose Mercado (214)
- Alma (218)
- Mayor (223)
- Micho Alvarez (237)
- Alma (239)
- Mayor (248)
- Alma (265)
- Arturo Rivera (285)
Character List
- Alma Rivera
- Arturo Rivera
- Maribel Rivera
- Mayor Toro
- Enrique Toro – Mayor’s brother
- Celia Toro
- Rafael Toro
- Garrett Miller – Local bully
- Quisqueya Solis
- Benny Quinto
- Gustavo Milhojas
- Adolfo “Fito” Angelino
- Nelia Zafon
- Jose Mercado
- Ynez Mercado – Jose’s wife
- Micho Alvarez
- Phyllis – Translator
- Mrs. Shields – English teacher at Community House
- William – Mayor’s friend
Themes and Topics
- Immigration
- Prejudice
- Racism
- Mistreatment of Immigrants
- Illegal or Undocumented Immigrants
- Adapting to a new life
- Bullying
- Brain Injury
Draw a Scene
Draw a scene that is important to the chapter, character, or theme you chose to write about. Add text of important lines or details.
Quick Write
Describe the scene you drew.
I drew the scene where Alma and her family went to the store to buy food to eat where they tried to paid for their stuff and while they were having a hard time what the cashier wanted, Maribel was complaining that she was hungry. I thought this scene stood out to me because they were having a hard time and I felt bad for them.
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I drew a picture of beautiful Spanish words randomly all over the page and between the words wrote I, ME, YOU, US, WE. I really like how the author compared the two languages and how they felt in Almas throat and mouth. I also think I particually liked this passage becasue I think Spanish is such a beautiful and romanic language and wish I could speak it. Then the author goes on to describe English as dense and tight with so many hard letters like miniture walls. This was creative and made me think alot about the two languates.
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My drawing was when Mayor decided to punch Garrett. I chose that because that was the turning point of the story, well to me. This is where Mayor finally grew some balls to stand up to Garrett and show him to not mess with him anymore.
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Alma (24)
Arturo finally started work at the mushroom factory! With minimal safety regulations. Alma wants to help out as much as she can, but she can’t because she doesn’t have much power over it. Anyway, Maribel is supposed to go to school soon, but no information is brought up about it, Arturo and Alma are worried about it. Five days later they get a call saying that Maribel is supposed to go to A.I. DuPont, instead of Evers. They are worried but they have no other choice. A few days later and Maribel leaves for school, Arturo goes to work, and Alma at home decides that the family needs to eat so she goes to the store to buy some food. On the way out, she sees Garrett riding down the street on his skateboard, and Alma runs back inside worried that he might have seen her. Once he left, Alma went outside to see if it was safe, and to collect her thoughts. She sees Fito, the landlord of the apartments, outside and asks him about the boy, and he says “Not to worry about” (Henriquez 36).
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In Chapter 10 based on Alma, They discuss how they have to stop shopping at their normal grocery store. They mention that they have to start shopping at the dollar tree. This is due their financial situation. Then, Alma describes her experience with the struggle of having a kid. After 3 years, once she finally had Maribel, she was notified that this would be her only child, Then Alma goes into detail about Maribel accident, which occurred when Maribel was 14. The accident took place at Arturo job site. Maribel fell off the ladder, plunging 2 stories down. Alma describes that she was the main cause because she had jerk then later which let horrid situation. They talk about the struggle for Maribel recovery . When they didn’t see much progress with Maribel recovery after a year of trying they decided that the smartest choice was to take a leave to the united states .
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