The Color of My Words

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Because she “get[s] Mami all to [her]self” (Chapter 1)

2. “A puzzle” (Chapter 1)

3. A notepad (Chapter 2)

4. To buy another notepad for himself (Chapter 2)

5. Learn English (Chapter 3)

6. “Plan” (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. The rhyming pattern is a four-line stanza: “AABB.” The poem describes the wash day that Ana spends with Mami. (Chapter 1)

2. The poem, entitled “Words,” is focused on finding paper so the words can have a place to stay and do not “drown.” Ana personifies words in this poem. (Chapter 2)

3. In a moment alone, Ana Rosa cannot resist the temptation to write down her words in Guario’s work notebook, and she fills all the blank pages. The next day, the family is worried about finding the notebook, since Guario said he will lose his job if he does not have one. (Chapter 2)

4. The rhyming pattern is a four-line stanza: “ABCB.” The writer’s favorite location is sitting in her gri gri tree. (Chapter 3)

5. One day, Ana Rosa sees a monster in the sea. At first, no one believes her, but after she sees it again, the community becomes concerned that the sea monster will deter the tourists from visiting. This situation helps Ana Rosa because Mami advocates for her to write a story about the sea monster to share with the tourists, and one of their neighbors gives her a new notebook. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. Papi (Chapter 4)

2. Because she cannot dance (Chapter 4)

3. Her brother’s best friend, Angel Rodríguez (Chapter 5)

4. He gets “very drunk—no matter what.” (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. After Ana Rosa rejects his offer to dance at a fiesta, Papi teaches his daughter how to dance. Initially unsuccessful because of her lack of rhythm, he takes her to the ocean and asks her to feel the music of the sea. Afterwards, she is able to dance the merengue with Papi. (Chapter 4)

2. She decides that at the night of the party, she will dance for everyone and hopefully Angel will see that she is not just Guario’s sister. Unbeknownst to Ana Rosa, her sister Angela is also interested in Angel, and she is the one who ultimately catches his eye at the party. Ana Rosa is hurt. (Chapter 5)

3. The man on the mule gives Ana Rosa money to buy sweets and her mother’s favorite cake. After Mami realizes in horror who gave Ana Rosa the money, she reveals that this man is Ana Rosa’s birth father. Ana Rosa is in denial and runs away to find solace and process this information. (Chapter 6)

4. After learning about her birth father’s identity, she determines that since she is still a writer, she can “rewrite everything” to keep normalcy in her family. She decides to write Mami and Papi a poem. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-8

Reading Check

1. “[T]he news that the government wanted to buy [their] land” (Chapter 7)

2. They paint different items in the community with the colors of their favorite electoral candidate. (Chapter 7)

3. By writing articles to be sent to newspapers (Chapter 7)

4. “Because he showed [the Dominicans] how to stand up and fight” (Chapter 7)

5. The gri gri tree (Chapter 7)

6. Red (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. The name of the poem is “The Colors of Power,” which is in reference to the colors of different political campaigns during election year. (Chapter 7)

2. After learning from Mr. Moreno that the government owns their land and they will sell it to hotel developers, Guario tears Mr. Moreno’s pamphlet in half in front of the neighborhood. Ana Rosa notes that this gesture marks a change in the community, as they “became a village of rebels fighting to keep [their] homes.” (Chapter 7)

3. Ana Rosa is torn because she knows that Mami does not like her writing political articles, but she wants to write these articles to please Guario. She decides to continue writing articles, which are ultimately published in national newspapers. (Chapter 7)

4. Despite the neighborhood’s efforts to combat the government decree, the hotel developers begin to bulldoze Ana Rosa’s village. With Guario leading the community, they try to resist the demolition; however, Guario is killed while protecting Ana Rosa at the top of her gri gri tree. She processes his death as her fault. (Chapter 7)

5. After developers first begin demolishing the village and Guario dies, more tourists start to come to their part of the island. Papi stops drinking and Angel moves to New York. (Chapter 8)

6. After swearing never to write again, Ana Rosa receives a typewriter for her birthday, a gift initiated by Guario before his death. She goes to the sea and shouts, “I’m sorry,” and after, she vows to use the typewriter to write down Guario’s story so he is not forgotten. (Chapter 8)