Glenwood Springs Middle School
Ms. Irving - 8th Grade Humanities
Summer of the Mariposas
Narrative Essay Winners
Inspired by The Summer of the Mariposas
An incredible spectrum of stories inspired by Guadalupe Garcia McCall's Summer of the Mariposas, these narrative essays were selected as Best in Class.
The Lady in the Veil
By Brighton Hathaway
After a long night of planning out directions to the border and trying to make a map, I was ready to go to bed. It was well past midnight and my brain was tired. I was going to try to get some sleep, even if it was only for six hours. I would wake the girls up early in the morning and we would leave right away.
El Sombrerón
By Winslow Proctor
The hot afternoon sun beamed down on us as we continued to walk on the path towards Abuelita’s house, our journey was almost over. We started through a thin forest, dense clusters of trees made it difficult to see. As we work our way through the forest, Juanita groans as an acorn hits her on the head. Velia let out a short giggle.
El Cuco
By Damian Christie
I will always remember the night that El Cuco descended into our house trying to kill Uanita, Velia, Delia, Pita, and myself. It was a dark and cloudy night, although it was quite warm outside. We were just finishing up dinner when our mom told us to go to bed.
The Pishtaco
By Lillianna Baca
After our meeting with the Nagual there was a tense feeling. We knew we would encounter one of the monsters eventually but it was scarier than I had thought.
“Odilia, hello? You zoned out for a while. Are you okay?” Juanita asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
El Sombrerón
By Jacob Roggie
It was late in the evening and the girls were all feeling tired, but Odilia kept them moving. It was cold and a slight breeze that brought a fresh smell of flowers was in the Mexican air.
“Who is that?” Velia asked.
About the Author
Guadalupe Garcia McCall
By Addison Cox
By Claire Quintez
Gadalupa Garcia Mcall is the award-winning author of Summer Of The Mariposas. She also writes poetry and is an educator. She immigrated to America at a young age and dealt with a lot of struggles growing up. She was inspired to write the book because of The Odyssey. She wanted young girls to be empowered and see themselves as strong, witty, and brave. She has a lot of interesting facts in her life, her favorite book, her favorite food, and why she likes these things. As the author of multiple award winning books she has quite the story.
Guadalupe Garcia Mcall was born in Mexico. At age six she moved to the United states as an immigrant. She grew up in a small town on the border of Texas. She stated that as a child, coming to the United States was difficult for her. Being an immigrant was unsettling since it meant she was always in fear of being sent home. As a child, she missed and reminisced about the days she had spent in Mexico. She missed her family in Mexico. Her parents didn't want to go back to Mexico. They believed that the U.S was a place of opportunity, a place to grow and experience new things, but most importantly, a place to make a life for themselves.
Ms. Garcia Mcall was inspired to write this book because she has wanted to rewrite The Odyssey with all female characters. In her boo, young girls and women can see themselves shown in a positive and strong way. They need to have texts and movies where they are courageous and smart. I agree about this, I think as girls learn about themselves and the kind of person they want to be that it is important to see your kind portrayed well. I feel that girls are frequently portrayed as the lesser characters next to men. She says this is what inspired her to write The Summer of the Mariposas.
Some interesting facts about Guadalupe Garcia MccCall: As a child growing up her favorite book was The Little Red Hen. Mccall compared the hen to her mother who worked hard and sacrificed for her children. McCall's favorite food is calido. She stated that she would eat calado whatever season, whatever kind it is --she loves it!
As you can see, Mcall has quite the life aShe tells us about her favorite childhood food and the struggles she faced while growing up. I think hearing about her and reading her books can teach young people a lot of valuable lessons. You can pick up a lot of things from learning about her and reading her books; there are many different ways to interpret what she has written. Personally, I have found her books and articles very interesting and important.
Guadalupe Garcia McCall is an award-winning author. She has written five books in total. Her first book, Under the Mesquite, won seven awards in total, including a high-ranking with Goodreads and 94% of people who have read this book have liked it!
Her next book, Summer of the Mariposas, is also an award-winning book. The book has won two awards. According to Barnes and Noble, they rate it 5/5! She also wrote Shame the Stars, All The Stars Denied, and Castle Of Horror Anthology.
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She also writes poems. Her poems for children have appeared in The Poetry Friday Anthology, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science.
Ms. Garcia McCall was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. She immigrated with her family to the United States when she was six years old, and grew up in Eagle Pass, Texas. When she was just 17 years old she lost her mom to cancer. This is when she started to write. She has a B.A in Theatre and in English. She graduated from Sul Ross University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of English at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.
Excellence in Dialogue
Excerpt from "El Cucuy" by Yeira Mellin
Teresita poured each of the girls some tea. “I hope you girls are prepared for what is to come,” Teresita said as she sat down across the table from us. I already knew by the way she started the sentence that we were going to need this tea for later. “You are going to face one of the most famous legends around here, “ she continued.
“Well, are you going to tell us what it is or not?" Jaunita said as she glared at Teresita. Jaunita was never good at being patient.
“Juanita! Let her finish, “ I interrupted.
“Whatever,” she said as she turned around to look outside the window.
Excellence in
Plot Development
Excerpt from "El Cucuy" by Jessenia Rescio
As I walked up to them I felt a sudden chill, like something or someone was watching me. I ignored the feeling and kept walking. As I got to them, I reached my hand out to tap Rosita on the shoulder but as I put my hand on her shoulder, both of the twins vanished in mid air.
Descriptiveness
Excerpt from "El Huay Chivo"
by Lennyn Hernandez-Perez
I was already tired of walking and now if we get lost it’s all my fault. The sun was bursting on us. It felt like it was about 1000 degrees and our clothes only made it hotter.
Excellence in Suspense
Excerpt from "El Cuco" by Diego Santiago
The wind howled through the canyon as the grey clouds formed overhead. I knew we had to get to shelter before it got cold if we were going to have a chance to make it through the night. Finally, an old run down shack appeared in the distance.
“We have to get there quickly,” Odelia said as her sisters ran behind her. It was now pouring and the mud beneath our feet was making it hard to run.
“I am having second thoughts about this shack. It looks scary,'' Odelia said.
The door creaked open. My heart rate went up like a rollercoaster getting ready to drop. Creeeeeek. I opened the door slowly, A musty smell wooshed out of the shack. I ran inside, almost tripping on the old pushed up floorboards. I felt a haunted feeling in my gut. "I do not like this at all," I said.
As we all caught our breath I feel hot air on my shoulder. Things are getting creepier. A floorboard creaks. We all are getting scared. Another creak. Something is getting closer. I yell RUN! As we scramble out the door I trip hitting my knee on a rock. I'm in pain. I can't run as fast as my sisters. They leave me behind.
Excellence in Narration
I started to lead them into the woods when Pita started whimpering. “The thunder is getting louder, Odilia.”
I picked her up and whispered in her ear, ”That’s just the gods bowling up in the sky.” Once she had calme d down we continued to move deeper into the woods. Finally, we ended up stopping in the cover of the trees with a little rock ledge for us to take shelter under.
Excerpt from "El Ayundante" by Gabriella Taylor
Excellence in Setting
Excerpt from "El Cuco" by Tate Reed
The night sky was lit by a full moon and all the houses were quiet and still; the only sounds were the nighttime crickets and an abundance of birds. The smell of unfinished food filled the air. This was a little town, not many people populated it. Mainly older people but you could always find a nice young family with children springing with joy. It was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by desert and hills. Less than a mile away you could find a small creek flourishing with fish and covered in wildlife and thick deep shrubbery.
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