47 pages • 1 hour read
Julia AlvarezHow Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 7-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Two Happy Months in Vermont”
As the summer continues, Tía Lola tells the children more stories about their Dominican relatives, including an uncle who fell in love with a magical ciguapa. When the children explore the attic with Tía Lola, Miguel finds photographs of Colonel Charlebois as a boy on a baseball team. The colonel is the Guzmáns’ landlord. To Miguel’s surprise, the elderly man says that he would be honored to have the team practice in the fields around the farmhouse. Miguel’s teammates come over to play baseball every day. They choose Miguel to be their captain, and he names Tía Lola the team’s manager because she makes them delicious Dominican smoothies and tells them stories about Dominican baseball players.
One day, Tía Lola paints the house purple to match the colorful homes in the Dominican Republic. Mami is afraid that Colonel Charlebois will evict them, but Tía Lola assures her that she has the situation under control. A few days later, the colonel leaves a message in their mailbox: “Unless the house is back to its original white by the end of the month, you are welcome to move out” (100). Although she loves the house’s new color, Mami feels that their only option is to restore the bland white paint. However, Tía Lola believes that Charlebois will have a change of heart if he sees Miguel’s team play on Saturday. When the day of the game arrives, Tía Lola surprises Miguel’s teammates with hand-sewn uniforms with purple and white stripes. She also sews a pennant declaring that the team is “CHARLIE’S BOYS” (103). The colonel smiles, drops his cane, and calls for Miguel to toss him the ball.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Mami’s Birthday Party”
Mami’s family plans to throw a small surprise party for her birthday, but Tía Lola invites over 70 people. Miguel and Juanita help her plan the event, suggesting that they have the party in the field behind the house and prepare the food at Rudy’s Restaurant. Because Tía Lola spends a lot of time at the restaurant, Mami wonders if she and Rudy have feelings for one another. Hoping that this is the case, Mami reveals to Miguel that Tía Lola raised her after her mother died when she was only three years old.
Miguel and Juanita wish that Papi could attend the party, but he reminds them that this special occasion is for their mother, not them. When the children tell Tía Lola about the sadness they feel because of their parents’ separation, she encourages them, “You don’t ever have to lose anyone you really love” (110).
On the morning of Mami’s birthday, it rains heavily. Miguel and Juanita worry that the weather will impact the party, but Tía Lola gives them a knowing wink. Mami feels glad because rainy days are her favorite, and her eyes fill with happy tears when Tía Lola cooks her favorite breakfast, fried onions and mashed plantains. As though she predicted the weather, Tía Lola arranges for Rudy’s son to set up a large tent in the backfield. While one of Mami’s friends keeps her busy in town, Tía Lola, Miguel, and Juanita prepare for the party. The guests include Rudy, Colonel Charlebois, Miguel’s baseball team, and Juanita’s friends. As Miguel looks around at the crowd, he marvels at the number of friends his family has made in eight months. When Mami arrives, everyone shouts, “Surprise!”, and Tía Lola releases balloons (116).
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Best Place in the World”
After the party, the rain stops, and Miguel’s family drives into the Green Mountains to watch the sunset. The breathtaking setting seems to them “the most beautiful place in the world” (118). When Mami was a child, Tía Lola always told her a special story on her birthday. This year, she tells the story in English. Mami thanks her for learning the language, and she tells her children that it’s important for them to hear Tía Lola’s stories so that they can connect to their heritage.
Tía Lola tells a story of a time long ago when the whole world existed in perpetual summer. However, people began to wander in search of somewhere even better. Miguel and Juanita relate to the people in the story because they feel torn between New York and Vermont and wonder where they truly belong. Eventually, everyone chose to settle on a beautiful island. The island groaned under their weight and asked the sky, sun, wind, and clouds for help. Scorching heat, torrential rains, and destructive waves led many people to leave the island, which became peaceful again. To help preserve this balance, the earth and the sky asked every place to choose a form of bad weather. That way, humans would realize that everywhere has positive and negative attributes and be content with their homes. The story fills Miguel, Juanita, and Mami with a sense of belonging. Although Tía Lola misses her island home, she is glad to be with them. During the drive home, Mami suggests taking the children to the Dominican Republic in the winter, and Tía Lola has an idea. She whispers so that the children can’t overhear.
Chapter 10 Summary: “La Ñapa”
The narrative jumps forward to December. Two days before Christmas, Miguel, Juanita, Tía Lola, and Mami fly to the Dominican Republic. Tía Lola teaches the children about Dominican customs. For example, when they shop, they should ask for the ñapa, “the little bit more that comes at the end” (131). At the airport, an official tells Miguel and Juanita that they don’t look like Americans, and Miguel feels torn between his Dominican family heritage and his American life. He was born in New York and speaks English, but he sees that he resembles the Dominican citizens more than his friends in Vermont. Tía Lola teaches Miguel that Dominicans greet people with a kiss, so he shakes the official’s hand to prove his American identity. Miguel feels uncomfortable when porters grab his luggage without being asked. His mother tells him that it’s difficult for people to make a living there, so they should take this opportunity to help.
Miguel’s Dominican relatives greet them with hugs and kisses. Miguel feels a twinge of regret and unease. He wonders if this expensive trip away from Papi and his friends is worth being his only Christmas present. He also isn’t sure how he will remember the names of his 12 cousins, four aunts, and seven uncles. Miguel cheers up when he meets Ángel, a cousin around his age who shares his love of baseball. During the drive to his aunt’s house, Miguel sees unhoused children his own age and realizes how fortunate he is. Over an enormous lunch of rice and beans, roast pork, and avocado salad, the family members share stories. After the meal, everyone takes a siesta, an unfamiliar custom to Miguel. The boy lies awake, worrying that Tía Lola will stay on the island because she is overjoyed to be there.
On Christmas Eve, even more relatives gather to celebrate. An uncle shows Miguel a bone spur on his pinkie that he calls his sixth finger. After dinner, Tía Lola dresses up as Santa Claus and asks all the cousins what they want for Christmas. Ángel requests a baseball bat and a glove and receives the set that Miguel’s family picked out for him in Vermont. Miguel asks Santa for a ñapa. He realizes that Tía Lola is Santa because he recognizes her gold hoop earrings and beauty mark. He thanks her for the trip and wishes for Tía Lola to return to Vermont with him. With a wink, she replies, “I’ll see what I can do” (144). He wishes her a merry Christmas in Spanish and kisses her cheek.
Chapters 7-10 Analysis
In the novel’s final section, Miguel’s desire to follow the example modeled by Tía Lola significantly influences his growth as a character. Like Tía Lola, Miguel makes a conscious effort to “[look] for the best in people” (98), improving his relationship with Juanita and his parents. The young protagonist’s journey to the Dominican Republic teaches him other lessons as well, such as appreciating what and who he has. When he sees the unhoused children on the island, he feels “suddenly very lucky” to have a family and a home (138). By the end of the novel, Miguel has become a kind and courteous boy who appreciates his family for what it is rather than trying to change things beyond his control.
Colonel Charlebois’s transformation in the novel’s final section emphasizes The Importance of Family and Community Support. In Chapter 7, Colonel Charlebois initially reacts negatively to the vivid purple paint Tía Lola uses for the house but experiences a change of heart when Tía Lola connects the color to something he loves. The purple paint provides an important example of the novel’s color symbolism. Tía Lola paints the house purple to remind her of brightly colored homes in the Dominican Republic. Similarly, seeing the baseball teams in their purple-striped uniforms Tía Lola sews for them helps the elderly man reconnect to the joy of his youth. The dramatic change in Colonel Charlebois’s character highlights the ways in which Tía Lola’s kindness brings about positive change in the hearts of those around her. Charlebois is one of the nearly 80 people who gather to celebrate Mami’s birthday, which shows how many people have come to cherish the family during their eight months in Vermont. Alvarez positions Tía Lola’s gift for fostering connections as a key factor in the community’s support for the Guzmáns.
Alvarez further reinforces the thematic importance of family and community support by providing exposition about Tía Lola’s backstory. For example, the revelation that Tía Lola raised Mami from age three allows Miguel to realize, “You can be a family even if your parents are no longer married” (109). This shift in perspective allows Miguel to finally accept his parents’ divorce, something he has struggled with since the beginning of the novel. Although Miguel and his family are aware that Tía Lola misses the Dominican Republic, the author only reveals the extent of her homesickness in Chapter 9: “Many nights, [...] Tía Lola looks up and makes a wish on a Vermont star. Before the year is out, may I go back to my island home again!” (126). The emotional ache that Tía Lola carries daily makes her loving, joyful nature even more meaningful in the narrative. Helping her return to her beloved island is a way for Miguel, Juanita, and their mother to thank Tía Lola for all the support she’s given them throughout the story.
Visiting the Dominican Republic deepens Miguel’s understanding of his heritage and The Role of Language in Shaping Identity. In the scene at the airport, Alvarez examines the relationship between language and identity: “[Miguel] wonders what makes him a real American [....] Because he speaks English?” (133). Miguel asks complex questions about what it means to be an American, evidencing his growing maturity and empathy. He also feels proud of his Dominican heritage, understanding that he can be both Dominican and American. At the end of the story, he wishes Tía Lola a Merry Christmas in Spanish and gives her a kiss in accordance with Dominican custom. In addition to demonstrating Miguel’s increased comfort with his Dominican heritage and the Spanish language, his actions demonstrate his deep appreciation for Tía Lola. Recognizing that she has adapted to life in Vermont and learned English, speaking Spanish is a way for him to reciprocate her efforts.
Miguel’s visit to the Dominican Republic also brings him closer to his family. Alvarez uses food as a motif of family support to depict the warm welcome Miguel and his family receive. The narrator compares the enormous lunch the relatives share to “a ñapa that will not quit” (138), illustrating the abundant love and support the Dominican relatives offer. Later in Chapter 10, Miguel’s fear that Tía Lola may stay on the island prompts him to reflect on the ways that she has helped his family: “But if she does stay [in the Dominican Republic], Miguel and Juanita and their mother will have no one to tell them wonderful stories [...] No one to think up surprises all the time” (139). The young protagonist’s deepened appreciation for Tía Lola prompts him to wish for her to return to Vermont—a full reversal of his attitude at the start of the novel. Like the question of whether Tía Lola possesses real magic, Alvarez leaves the story’s resolution open-ended. Tía Lola says, “I’ll see what I can do” rather than guaranteeing that she will go back to the US (144). However, the fact that this is the first installment of a series signals that the lively Tía Lola will return for more adventures.
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