Anchor Text Guidance: Grade 8, Module 1

Folklore of Latin America

Text and author: Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Lexile®: 840

Text Overview
The five Garza sisters are running wild in a summer of freedom after their father has abandoned
the family and their mother is working long days and nights in Texas. When the sisters find a
dead body floating in the Rio Grande, they argue over what to do, ultimately deciding to return
the man’s body to his family in Mexico. A ghostly apparition known as La Llorona appears to
Odilia, the oldest sister, and tells her that the sisters must travel to Mexico to make their family
whole. Odilia and her sisters go on a quest to Mexico, facing many hostile forces from Latin
American folklore, and in doing so restore their family bond.

EL Education’s Grade 8 Module 1 is designed to prompt consideration of these compelling

questions:
„ Why do we see evidence of myths and traditional stories in modern narratives?

„ How and why can we modernize myths and traditional stories to be meaningful to today’s
audiences?
Through the anchor text, Summer of the Mariposas, and many supplemental texts, students
learn the role of myths and traditional stories as a means of explaining the world and conveying
the values of the culture from which the myths originate. Students learn firsthand the value in
studying stories from other cultures as a way to examine alternative perspectives and amplify
their own worldview. Although this text centers specifically on folklore of Latin America,
teachers are advised to recognize and include myths from other cultures as well to reinforce
these big ideas about the role of myths and traditional stories.

EL Education Curriculum 1
Grade 8 Module 1

Text Rationale
EL Education’s Language Arts modules are literacy-focused; at their core is a commitment to
helping students become enthusiastic, critical, and effective readers of diverse texts. In Summer
of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall modernizes many traditional myths from Latin
American folklore and tells the story of the Garza girls through a retelling of The Odyssey to
convey themes about the importance of being kind and pure of heart, as well as the important
relationships between mothers and their children, and among sisters. Summer of the Mariposas
addresses the Grade 8 literary standard requiring students to analyze how a modern work of
fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories,
or religious works, including describing how the material is rendered new.

Odilia and her sisters are relatable for eighth-graders who may find it easy to empathize with
Odilia’s desire to lead, to protect her sisters, and to examine her relationship with her family.
Summer of the Mariposas, with its compelling quest and encounters with monsters from
folklore, affords countless opportunities to nurture students’ enthusiasm in the text and topic.

Summer of the Mariposas contains perspectives that may be new to some students. Occasionally,
students may find these perspectives in conflict with their own personal beliefs and attitudes.
During collaborative in-class activities surrounding the text, students may also find that
their classmates hold beliefs different from their own. Central to the design and learning of
this module is an emphasis on guiding students to be ethical people. Due to its inclusion of
alternative perspectives, this module facilitates regular opportunities for students to practice
showing respect, empathy, and compassion for the attitudes and worldviews of their classmates.

Throughout the module, carefully designed and sequenced tasks equip students with the reading
skills and strategies needed to comprehend the text. Using Summer of the Mariposas as practice,
students learn to unpack content effectively and consider it carefully before responsibly and
safely challenging its explicit and implicit messages.

Additional Considerations
Students are asked to preread each chapter of the novel for homework before analyzing a
strategically selected excerpt of the text in class. Summer of the Mariposas references multiple
potentially sensitive topics that provide opportunities for teachers to interact thoughtfully with
the entire group, small groups, individuals, and families. Teaching notes throughout the module
identify potentially troubling content in the excerpts and provide suggestions for teachers to
guide students through this content with sensitivity. Many of these suggestions integrate skills
and tasks that students are learning in this module (e.g., analyzing point of view, differentiating
between literary and informational texts), providing opportunities for students to concurrently
practice what they are learning and be empowered readers of challenging topics.

EL Education recommends school leaders and teachers read the texts in advance, with
the specific school community in mind, to become familiar with the issues presented so
they can discuss them with students and families as needed.

Examples of the sensitive topics that teachers will be prepared to address are detailed here.

2
 Anchor Text Guidance

1. Presentation of Supernatural Entities

The Garza sisters repeatedly encounter supernatural beings, magic, and witchcraft. They meet
the ghostly apparition of La Llorona, said to have drowned her own children, who seeks out
children to harm. La Llorona guides their journey and gives them a magical pendant that allows
them to invoke the goddess Tonantzin, who is referred to as the mother of all Mankind. Along
their journey the sisters cast spells to distract border patrol and the dead man’s family. They
encounter a sorceress who tries to entrap them and then curses them; a seer who tells them
what will happen along their journey; a warlock who tries to create a potion to kill them; a
chupacabra—a monster thought to suck the blood of livestock and humans—who attempts to
eat them; and lechuzas—evil, talking owls—that attack the girls. Some students may be sensitive
to scary stories, and teachers are advised to raise this with students before reading the text in
order to identify students who may require additional support throughout reading.

The presentation of supernatural entities in Summer of the Mariposas may be discordant with
students’ personal religious beliefs and practices. Folklore, like any cultural artifact, conveys
embedded values that may conflict with (or reinforce) one’s own values or orientation to the
world. This module acknowledges the important role that the supernatural played in the
folklore of Latin America, but rather than emphasize any religious implications, students
are encouraged to approach these themes like quasi anthropologists, examining texts, posing
questions, and seeking to understand the perspectives of others without judgment.

To add further support, teachers, students, and families are provided with opportunities to
discuss and react to these topics safely through engaging literacy tasks.

EL Education recommends teachers and/or school leaders meet with the families of students
for whom Summer of the Mariposas is in direct conflict with religious beliefs to discuss the
novel and the content of the module tasks. This discussion should determine whether it is
appropriate for their students to participate in this module. If it is determined that students
will not participate in this module, a text should be selected with the same qualitative and
quantitative measures that can address the same standards. This is critical in preparing students
for the skills required in the next module.

2. Abandonment
Throughout the story, the girls discuss the fact that their father has left their family. When they
return the dead man’s body to his family, they find out that he had also abandoned his family
years ago. When the sisters return to Texas, their father comes back but wants to divorce their
mother because he has a new fiancée and stepchildren. When their mother refuses to allow
him to take their house, he leaves with his new family again. Teaching notes describe strategies
teachers can employ to be sensitive and alert to the ways in which themes of abandonment
within the text could be upsetting for some students.

Additionally, throughout the module, there are teaching notes for sensitively handling issues
related to abandonment by a father, magic or witchcraft in the text, or other topics. Below is an
example from Unit 2, Lesson 2.
„ Note that chapter 1 of Summer of the Mariposas brings up potentially sensitive topics such as
the narrator’s father abandoning his family and the narrator and her sisters discovering a dead
body. Allow for time to process and respond to these topics during discussion. After reading each
chapter excerpt, students have time to reflect. Monitor your students, and determine whether
issues are surfacing that need to be discussed in more detail as a whole group, in smaller groups,
or independently. Consider reaching out to families if a particular topic is sensitive for a student.
EL Education Curriculum 3
Grade 8 Module 1

In advance of reading, consider meeting with students and their families for whom there may
be a direct connection to this issue to prepare them.

3. Crime
The Garza sisters are exposed to and commit crimes along their journey to return a dead man to
his family. When they find the body of the man, they are swimming illegally in the river. Rather
than reporting the body, they steal their father’s car and run away to illegally transport it over
the Mexican border without the knowledge of the authorities. They steal money from the dead
man to fund their travels, and they bribe a checkpoint official to pass. They repeatedly lie to
adults or play tricks in order not to be caught.

Texts can provide both positive models from which to learn and negative lessons students can
reflect upon to consider the “right” thing or the most effective/safe/legal course of action.
Teaching notes throughout the lessons describe strategies teachers can employ to help students
process the choices made by characters within the text.

After reading each chapter, students make connections to habits of character and consider how
these habits are modeled or shown to be lacking. For example, in Unit 1, Lesson 3, there is the
following teaching note:
„ Note that chapter 2 of Summer of the Mariposas brings up potentially sensitive topics such as
the sisters stealing their father’s car and running away from home. Allow for time to process
and respond to these topics during discussion.
During the reading portion of the lesson, the following prompts are offered for discussion:
„ “In what ways did characters show respect or empathy in this chapter? Did any characters face

challenges in showing respect or empathy?” (Odilia feels responsible for her family and tries
to prevent them from traveling to Mexico to return the body. She is showing empathy in her
own way. On the other hand, Juanita thinks it is respectful to return the body to his family and
motivates them to do so. The sisters are challenged in their ability to understand one another’s
perspectives or motives, which makes it difficult for them to show empathy for one another.)
Direct students to the Work to Be Ethical People anchor chart for reference.
„ “What is your point of view on this situation? Did the girls do the right thing? Why or why not?”

(Responses will vary, but may include, “No, because stealing a car is not only against the law
but is also very dangerous.”)

4. Mistrust of Authorities
The Garza sisters repeatedly reference a mistrust for the authorities when they choose not to
contact anyone about the dead man. They discuss the corruption of border patrol and of law
enforcement both in Texas and in Mexico. There is reference to the FBI, the Mexican Federales,
border patrol, and Child Protective Services. Teaching notes describe strategies teachers can
employ to be sensitive and alert to the ways in which explicit reference to mistrust or fear of
authorities within the text could be upsetting for some students.

5. Female Protagonists
The protagonists of the text are female, though their story is intended to be relatable to all
young readers. Teachers are encouraged to consider ways to interrupt the implicit idea that
books starring female characters are “for girls.” One way to do this is by encouraging students
to reimagine certain plotlines through the eyes of other (male) narrators. This remediation
exercise invites empathy and uses skills similar to those required by the End of Unit 3
4
 Anchor Text Guidance

Assessment, in which students write a new scene from Summer of the Mariposas to feature the
insertion of a new character. Using literacy tasks to remedy problematic issues with the text
again reinforces students’ learning by establishing a relationship between reading skills and
being an ethical person.

EL Education resists censorship of reading materials and believes that it is important to help
students become critical, sensitive, and thoughtful readers even of materials with which they
disagree. Students are expected to read the entire chapter as homework before class, and
teachers are equipped with tools to help students make sense of or challenge the material.

6. The Single Story

In this novel, the female characters of Mexican descent come from a single-parent home where
resources are limited, and while they make decisions with good intentions, they break the law
multiple times. Be aware of the single story this can create of people of Mexican descent for
students from other cultural backgrounds, and take the time to celebrate the author, an award-
winning female novelist born in Mexico who emigrated with her family to the United States
when she was six years old. Also, through the performance task, celebrate the engaging Latin
American folklore characters and tales that students read and write about in the module. The
author’s note for this text isn’t read until Unit 3 when students have finished reading the novel;
however, if you think this would support students in avoiding the single story, consider reading
it earlier in the module.

Tasks
Each unit in Module 1 features tasks that, intentionally or incidentally, mitigate possible
concerns with the anchor text and support students’ enthusiastic, informed, and safe reading.

Unit 1
Before students begin to read Summer of the Mariposas, they reflect on habits of character and
use discussion protocols to share ideas about what respect and empathy look and sound like to
them. Students also speculate about the role of empathy in making one feel a sense of belonging
in the classroom community. These exercises clearly delineate expectations of students’
behavior toward one another and allow students to take ownership of the habits of character
before tackling the novel and its potentially sensitive topics.

After reading a chapter excerpt of Summer of the Mariposas, students are always given time for
silent reflection. They can write or sketch, or just sit and think, as they consider how the chapter
made them feel. If they choose, they may also share their reflections with the whole group.

Students work on identifying point of view and the effect created by difference in point of view
throughout the unit. Introducing the idea of point of view so early in the module allows students
ample opportunity to practice assigning the text’s messages to specific characters or the author,
creating space for students to more easily disagree with or challenge things they read.

Students are introduced to the idea of theme and begin to track its development within the
text. Analyzing theme helps students distill complicated plot events or mythological stories into
messages that are likely to resonate with students and reveal the author’s purpose for writing
the text.

EL Education Curriculum 5
Grade 8 Module 1

Unit 2
In Unit 2 of the module, students write a new scene from the novel. This provides students
the opportunity to consider why authors modernize myths and legends and how they can be
relevant today. In order to complete this task, students will read about “monsters” from Latin
American folklore.

Unit 3
In Unit 3 of the module, students closely read the author’s note to consider why the author
chose to modernize the magical myths and tales of Latin American folklore in this story, and
they write an essay about the author’s modernization of La Llorona and the theme conveyed
through this retelling. They write a second essay about their own modernization of a monster
from Latin American folklore and the theme they want to convey through their retelling.

For the performance task—the celebration of learning at the end of the module—students
create a web page to share their narrative writing and their essays about how and why they
have modernized a mythical creature. This web page can be shared with family and community
members to create more awareness and learning around Latin American folklore.

Including Families
Families of students working through this module are invited to discuss the concerns they
have with the text with their student and teacher. Teaching notes throughout the module
recommend that teachers speak to families of students who may be particularly affected by
the issues encountered in the text. Notes in the homework documents distributed to families
recommend that families reach out to teachers with questions or concerns about the text.
They also encourage families to talk to their students about the texts they are reading in the
classroom, particularly if any of the topics raised might be sensitive to a particular student. To
celebrate family and community cultures, families are also encouraged to share folklore stories
they may know from their own lives and to research folklore together with their students. In
Unit 1, Lesson 1 homework, students reflect on the module guiding questions and discuss them
with their families. Students are invited to share their reflections at the start of Lesson 2, though
they are not required to do so.