The Distance Between Us

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Book 1, Prologue-Chapter 5

Reading Check

1. Where is El Otro Lado?

2. Who is The Man Behind the Glass?

3. What measures do Grandmother Evila and Tía Emperatriz take to rid Reyna and her siblings of head lice?

4. What news from the United States causes the Grande children, especially Mago, to despair?

5. Why does María Félix, Elida’s mother, come back to Mexico?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Reyna both resent and idealize her father?

2. Describe Evila, the Grande Children’s paternal grandmother.

Paired Resource

“Immigrant Perspectives: The American Dream”

• In this 2-minute video, immigrants from various countries discuss the American dream, what inspired them to pursue it, and what they feel about the results of their pursuit.
• What aspects of the American Dream do Reyna’s parents imagine will improve their quality of life if they make it to El Otro Lado? Compare their imaginings with those expressed in this video. How is the book’s theme of Intersection of Memory and Imagination at play in this video?

Book 1, Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. Name two reasons Evila has told Reyna to fear becoming evil in Chapter 6.

2. What do the Grande children receive in the mail two weeks before Christmas?

3. What treatment does Tía Emperatriz give to Reyna when Evila refuses to let her see a doctor for a scorpion bite?

4. Where does the Grande children’s mother take them when she returns to Mexico?

5.  Why has the Grande children’s mother returned to Mexico?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do the Grande children decide to help build the foundation of their father’s dream house?

2. Why do Mago and Reyna feel ambivalent about taking care of Elizabeth?

Book 1, Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. What kind of work does Reyna’s mother do upon her return to Mexico?

2. What does Carlos see on his way home from trying to meet his mother after work?

3. What happens to Cousin Catalina during the rainy season?

4. Why does Mago decide to get a job after school?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why are the children devastated to find that their mother has gone away?

2. Why do the sisters worry about Carlos “learning to become a man” from Tíó Crece?

3. Why does Reyna begin to panic when she doesn’t see Mago get off the train?

Paired Resource

“Why Are Millions of Chinese Kids Parenting Themselves?”

• This 14-minute video follows the lives of one family in the Liangshan Province of China, where 9 million children raise themselves while their parents work in larger cities.
• What are the emotional and physical distances between parents and children in this video? How do those distances compare to the distances between Reyna, her siblings, and the adults in their lives? What conclusions can you make regarding the book’s theme of Geographical and Emotional Distance Within Immigrant Families?

Book 1, Chapters 16-20

Reading Check

1. What event brings the children’s mother back to Chinta’s doorstep?

2. Why do Don Oscar’s children laugh at Reyna and her siblings?

3. What disappointment or betrayal do the Grande children face at Christmas?

4. When their father returns to Mexico, what is his announcement about his plans to stay?

5. How many miles is Iguala from the Grande’s new home in Los Angeles?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does the children’s mother move in with Tía Güera?

2. What makes crossing the border so expensive?

Paired Resources

“US Border: Migrants Risk Everything for an American Dream”

• This 5-minute video follows Central American migrants walking from their home countries to the Mexico-US border, the hardships they face, and the motives that keep them going on the arduous journey.
• What losses of home and family do these families experience in their pursuit of seeking asylum and better lives in the United States? How do the hardships they face compare to those of the Grande family?

“The True Cost of the American Dream”

• In this 20-minute Ted Talk, Silvia Ramos discusses the emotional and psychological tolls immigrating to the United States took on herself and her family.
• As you read Book 2 of this memoir, consider the similarities and differences between Ramos’s story and Grande’s as it unfolds. How do their shared circumstances impact Grande’s evolving understanding of herself as a Mexican American? What conclusions can you make regarding the book’s theme of Forging New Identities as Immigrants?

Book 2, Prologue-Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. What does Reyna do as her father is dying in a hospital bed?

2. Why don’t the Grande children begin school right away upon arriving in America?

3. Why can’t Reyna eat spaghetti?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What eventually causes the Grande children to demote their father’s status as a hero?

2. Why is removing her mother’s last name from her name particularly difficult for Reyna?

Paired Resource

“Mary Karr on Memoir: A Conversation”

• The second book in this memoir is faster-paced, and it’s the place where Grande begins to contemplate the truths that emerge from telling her story. This 10-minute interview with Mary Karr unpacks the art of memoir writing.
• What elements of Karr’s advice and essentials are reflected in Grande’s memoir? Consider this as you continue to read.

Book 2, Chapters 5-9

Reading Check

1. How did the Grande children get their father a Christmas gift?

2. What happens to Reyna’s treasured sanitary napkin?

3. How does Reyna’s father respond when she comes home from school with head lice?

4. Where do the Grande girls go when Mago has a crush who does not notice her?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Reyna say, “María didn’t know that Carlos wasn’t trying to protect Mago?” (Book 2, Chapter 8)

Book 2, Chapters 10-14

Reading Check

1. Where does Reyna find an escape from the pressures of school and feeling inadequate based on her English language proficiency?

2. What makes Reyna’s sweet win with the writing contest turn sour?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Reyna’s father stop taking English classes?

2. Did Reyna’s first crush turn out better than she hoped? Why or why not?

Paired Resource

TESOL Pre-K–12 English Language Proficiency Standards Framework

• For the curious, this short document from TESOL International Association shows the different English Language Learning proficiency levels that Reyna and her siblings had to scale to test out of their ESL classes.

Book 2, Chapters 15-19

Reading Check

1. Who pays for Reyna’s quinceañera?

2. What honor does Reyna earn for making the All-City marching band?

3. Why does the children’s father buy Carlos a car?

4. Why does Carlos decide to drop out of college?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the significance of following the chapter where their father chastises his children for wasting their opportunities in America with a chapter on visiting Mexico and observing the rampant poverty in the place the Grande children used to call home?

Paired Resource

“History and Traditions of Quinceañeras”

• This 8-minute video describes the historical, social, and cultural significance of the Mexican quinceañera (the last four minutes are Q&A from comments).
• What elements of the traditional quinceañera appear in Grande’s recollection of her quinceañera?

Book 2, Chapter 20-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. To which college does Reyna gain admission?

2. Why is Marina unable to enroll at that college?

3.  Who introduces Reyna to Chicano literature?

4. What impact does reading Sandra Cisneros’s writing have on Reyna?

5. What is Mila’s condition for calling off her divorce from the Grande children’s father?

6. Where does Reyna eventually enroll in college?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does teaching ESL students have such a significant impact on Grande’s psyche?

Recommended Next Reads 

Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood by Qian Julie Wang

• Wang’s memoir explores her family’s time pursuing the American Dream after having fled China’s Cultural Revolution. They arrive and survive as undocumented people living in New York City.
• Beautiful Country on SuperSummary

A Dream Called Home by Reyna Grande

• In her follow-up to The Distance Between Us, Grande picks up where her previous memoir left off, penning a memoir that centers similar themes around home, family, and identity as she seeks success in college and her early career.