The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition

Mago writes regular letters to Mami and includes pictures of her, Reyna, and Carlos. They want Mami to think they’re happy and safe and don’t tell her anything “about Papi’s dark side” (154). He often drinks and gets angry and violent.

Reyna is excited to start school but gets scared when September comes. She wishes she could go to junior high with Mago and Carlos. Papi tells them they have to do well in school or he’ll send them back to Mexico.

Mago is 10 when she starts at Aldama Elementary. She’s terrified because she doesn’t speak English. In Mrs. Anderson’s class, she meets the assistant and translator, Mr. López. He informs her she can only use one last name, and makes her drop Rodríguez. For the rest of the class, he helps her learn the English alphabet. Reyna feels silly learning something everyone learned years ago.

After school, Reyna stays with the neighbor, Mrs. Giuliano, until Mago and Carlos get home. Mrs. Giuliano is Italian and tries to talk to and be kind to Reyna. Reyna wishes she could tell her how she really feels about Los Angeles. She misses home and wonders if she’ll have to go back if she fails in school. She tells herself she’ll make Papi proud someday, but her new home also feels scary to her. It’s noisy and different than Iguala, and she sometimes worries she doesn’t belong anywhere.

In October, Mila tells Reyna and her siblings about Halloween and helps them prepare their costumes. They’re thrilled and can’t believe people give out free candy.

The next morning, Papi yells at Carlos for wetting the bed. Usually Reyna and Mago help him clean himself up, but this time Papi caught him and beat him. Mago comforts Carlos and encourages him to go to school so Papi doesn’t send him away.

After school, they don their costumes and go trick-or-treating. Mago wears Mila’s old wedding gown, as she left her first husband for Papi. They bring home candy and share it with Papi.

Mila picks up Reyna from school and takes her to the dentist. They don’t have insurance so Mila uses her daughter Cindy’s insurance. Throughout the appointment, Reyna has to pretend to be Cindy.

On the way home, she accidentally calls Mila “mami” and Mila scolds her. At home, Mago and Carlos remind her that Mila broke up their family. Reyna secretly wonders what it’s like to be Cindy and to have Mila as her mom.

Reyna and her siblings see a commercial about Santa Claus on television. They call the number on the screen and ask Santa to bring them toys and gifts for Christmas.

As the holiday approaches, Reyna and her siblings panic because they don’t have gifts for Papi and Mila. They steal a few things from a local store to give them. Shortly after Christmas, Papi gets angry when he sees the phone bill and discovers that they called Santa. He puts a lock on the phone and doesn’t seem worried when they ask what they should do in case of an emergency.

In January, the 5th and 6th grade girls go to the auditorium “for a presentation about menstruation” (185). Reyna already knows about it because Mago told her. However, she’s thrilled that she gets to take her own sanitary napkin home with her. She can’t wait until she starts her cycle because then she’ll be a señorita.

Not long afterwards, Mago starts bleeding and stays home from school because of her cramps. Papi is furious at her for missing school and beats her. Reyna gets upset and tells him Mago is menstruating. However, she gets mad at Mago later when she discovers that Mago used her special pad. Mila comes home with a package of pads for Mago and Mago gives one to Reyna. They make amends.

One day, the nurse gives the students hygiene checkups. Reyna is shocked and upset when she learns she has lice. She’s terrified to tell Papi, convinced he’ll send her back to Mexico. Papi tells her it’s okay and helps clean her hair. She still treasures this memory.

Reyna notices that Mago is now interested in boys. One day, she tells Reyna she wants to be kissed and has a crush on a boy named Pepe. However, she’s embarrassed to talk to him because she’s an ESL student and she doesn’t think Pepe notices her. Not long later, she tries having a conversation with him but he and his friends insult her for being Mexican.

Around the same time, Carlos develops a crush on a girl named María. María gets upset when she notices him staring at her one day. When she comes over to the house to confront him about it, Mago insists on fighting María. Mago throws her onto the ground and wrestles her. Reyna realizes that no one else knows how much Mago has been going through recently and wonders what will happen when she falls in love.

Mrs. Anderson announces an upcoming writing competition. Reyna decides to write the story of her birth. She was delivered in a shack by a midwife. Afterwards, the family buried her umbilical cord in the dirt floor. The students hand in the stories and watch a movie while Mrs. Anderson grades them. Reyna is heartbroken when her story isn’t chosen as one of the best in the class.

Mr. López encourages her and the other ESL students, assuring them their English will improve and they’ll accomplish all their dreams in America. Reyna hopes this is true because she still wants to make Papi proud.

One day, Papi tells Reyna and her siblings that he ran into Mami in Los Angeles. They’re shocked that she’s returned to the States and didn’t tell them. Over the next few weeks, they beg Papi to let them go and visit her. Finally they get her address from their aunt, who recently brought Betty to the States for Mami.

The siblings take the bus downtown, shocked by how different Mami’s neighborhood looks. Inside Mami’s apartment, they see Mami, Rey, Tía Güera, and Betty. Mami says she didn’t contact them about being in LA because she wanted to give them time to get to know Papi. Reyna and her siblings try to understand and start traveling between her and Papi’s apartments. Reyna still wishes they could all be a family.

Papi continually reminds Reyna and her siblings of the importance of school. He often threatens them about getting kicked out of the country if they don’t succeed. Meanwhile, Papi gets his green card after he and Mila marry. Together they file applications for Reyna and her siblings’ documentation, too.

In September, Mago starts high school and Reyna starts junior high school. All of the teachers are excited to have her as their student because Mago got good grades. Then Reyna starts band class and chooses to play the alto saxophone. She’s shocked that she can bring the instrument home for free. Playing music feels easier than trying to speak English.

Papi warns Reyna and her siblings about playing outside. He’s worried about gang activity in the area. One day, a gang member gets shot outside the apartment. Reyna is upset when Papi doesn’t help the boy, but later realizes he was protecting them.

Reyna and her siblings wait for their “green card applications to be processed” (229). Meanwhile, Papi goes to school to learn English, as he’s been relying on Mila for years. Not long later, Papi learns that Emperatriz stole his dream house and disappears to Mexico for two weeks to resolve the issue. When he returns, he’s even more depressed. He tells the children that Emperatriz tricked his sick mother into signing over the house to her. Afterwards, Reyna thinks she understands what Papi might be feeling.