Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. According to Pew Research Center, as of 2017, 36.6 million individuals living in the United States identified as being from Mexican descent. Read the sources below and provide a brief summary of the history of Mexican immigration to the United States. What year did it start? Where do many Mexican American communities live within the United States today? What are some of the challenges facing these communities as a whole?

Teaching Suggestion: Use this question to ensure that students have a general overview of the history of the Mexican American community in the United States. This question provides statistical context to Julia’s narrative in the novel. Furthermore, the topic of Mexican Americans in Chicago in the Britannica source links directly with the novel, since Julia lives in Chicago.

• This article from Pew Research Center provides statistical information on Mexican Americans.
• This topic list of Britannica articles provides information on Mexican American history in the United States, including some research on the Mexican American community in Chicago.