The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition

Reyna’s friend Phuong asks her to talk to her crush Luis for her. Reyna tells Luis Phuong is in love with him but he laughs. Looking into Luis’s eyes makes Reyna think of Iguala. She’s also excited when she learns that Luis lives nearby.

Not long later, Reyna runs into Luis in the neighborhood while she’s out getting lighter fluid for Papi. They take a walk and kiss and Reyna returns home without the fluid. Papi is furious and demands to know where she was. When Reyna talks back to him and threatens to go live with Mami, Papi beats her.

At school on Monday, Reyna is excited to see Luis again, but he ignores her. Reyna sits alone and reads to make herself feel better.

Mago graduates from high school five years after the siblings arrive in the States. She’s the first person in the family to earn a high school diploma. Reyna finishes junior high, too, but Papi doesn’t seem to care. She realizes that he’s a different person when he talks about his dreams than when he’s beating and insulting her. Around the same time, Reyna and her siblings “become legal residents of the United States” (245). Mago is thrilled and hopes to attend college and become a secretary.

Reyna attends band camp that summer. When she returns, Papi promises to take her to Raging Waters for her birthday. One night before the outing, Carlos returns home late with a badly injured leg. Papi refuses to take him to the hospital. Mago calls her work friends the next day and they drive Carlos to the hospital. They soon learn that Carlos broke his tibia and fibula.

That night, Mila tells the girls they have to forgive Papi because he “was abused by his parents” (252). They’re tired of hearing her defend him.

Mago pulls away from Papi after Carlos’s injury. She stops trying to do well and starts going out and partying more often. In November, Mago tells Reyna she wants to throw her a Quinceañera like the parties at La Quinta. She spends the next five months planning and even has a dress made for Reyna. Reyna is excited, but feels guilty on the day of the ceremony because she was never confirmed. She tries to be happy to make Mago happy. When she dances with Papi, she feels nothing and wishes she’d danced with Mago instead.

Mami has been visiting Mexico every year since getting her green card. One year, Mago decides to go too and offers to buy Reyna’s ticket. Reyna doesn’t “know what to expect on [her] return to Mexico” (265) and is shocked by how different everything looks. The train station is gone and the streets are filthy. Chinta’s house is much shabbier than she remembered, too. However, Chinta smells the same.

Reyna tries to catch up with old friends while in Iguala. However, she struggles to remember her Spanish and doesn’t know what to talk about. When she returns to Chinta’s after one visit, Mago is furious at her for disappearing. They argue and start wrestling. Reyna runs inside crying. She’s upset that Mago looks down on Mexico and their old friends, but feels guilty for hurting her sister.

A few weeks after returning to LA, Mago tells Reyna she and her friend Gaby are getting an apartment together and promises to take Reyna with her. Meanwhile, Reyna starts reading Anne of Green Gables and wishes she had a home like Anne’s. She is also dating a boy named Steve. Some weeks later, Mago says they found the apartment but Reyna can’t come because they’re not allowed to have that many people in the space. Reyna is devastated. However, Mago doesn’t leave right away because Papi finds out she’s trying to move and threatens to disown her.

A few days later, Reyna learns that she was “accepted to UC Irvine” (277). Mago and Carlos say they’re proud of her but Papi doesn’t say anything. Two days later, Reyna returns from school to discover Mago has moved out. When Papi finds out, he forbids Reyna to see or talk to her. He then says that Reyna can’t go to Irvine because she’s going to fail just like her siblings. Reyna closes herself in her room, feeling lonely.

After Mago and Carlos both move out, Reyna starts spending more time with Steve and stops caring what Papi thinks. Meanwhile, Reyna sneaks out to see Mago. Before the prom, Mago helps her find a dress and do her makeup. Afterwards, Reyna studies herself in the mirror and feels almost like Mago. She has a nice time with Steve at the prom, too, and imagines that they’re movie stars. Afterwards, she returns home and talks to herself in the mirror, pretending she’s talking to Mago.

Reyna graduates from high school. She’s proud of herself but upset that she isn’t going to college. Papi still won’t sign her paperwork for UC Irvine. She also learns that Mago is pregnant and worries that she’s being replaced. Meanwhile, she spends the summer locked in her room because Papi is always drunk and angry.

One day, Mago comes over despite Papi’s refusal to see her. When Reyna says she’s going out with her, Papi attacks her. Mago doesn’t come up to help her, which upsets Reyna. Mila says she was trying to protect her baby, as Papi would’ve attacked her too.

Reyna spends her days locked in her room to avoid Papi. She watches television and sneaks out for food after Papi falls asleep. She feels entirely alone.

Then one day, she realizes that she has to change things for herself and decides to enroll in Pasadena City College. She starts taking classes shortly thereafter. She particularly likes her English teacher, Diana Savas, who encourages her writing.

On Reyna’s 19th birthday, she visits Diana’s office. Diana gives her Helena María Viramontes’s The Moths and Other Stories. She loves the book and is excited to read another Latinx author. Meanwhile, she keeps visiting Diana. They never discuss Reyna’s home life, but instead talk “about books and writing” (301).

One day, Papi attacks Mila in a drunken rage. Reyna tries to defend her and the neighbor calls the cops. Reyna watches as the officers handcuff Papi and take him away.

Reyna goes to stay with Mami afterwards, but it’s a long bus ride from downtown LA to PCC. One day, Reyna tells Diana everything that’s going on. Diana invites her to come stay with her.

Reyna gets to know Diana even better in the coming weeks. Reyna adjusts to spending time with her, listening to music, reading, and sharing dinner and conversation. Diana encourages Reyna to keep writing and gives her more books. Reyna is especially moved by Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. In the meantime, Mila drops her charges against Papi and Papi goes home. Reyna, however, doesn’t want to return.

Over a year later, Mila leaves Papi when Reyna is in her last semester at PCC. Then one day, Carlos begs her to return home to care for Papi. He and Mago have families now and he’s worried Papi isn’t safe.

Reyna reluctantly goes back. In the next weeks, she discovers a different version of Papi. He’s kinder and listens to her more, even asking about her classes and plans to transfer to UC Santa Cruz. Reyna is excited about the school, but worries about leaving Papi and wonders if she should stay. However, not long later, Papi informs Reyna that he and Mila are getting back together, but that Mila doesn’t want him seeing her or her siblings anymore.

Reyna packs her bags and stays with Diana in the days before leaving for Santa Cruz. Her new boyfriend Edwin drives her to the campus. Studying her new surroundings, she realizes she has a beautiful place like Anne’s. When she sees the ocean, she lets go of her worries about Papi.

In 1999, Reyna graduates from UCSC. Shortly beforehand, she writes an essay about her favorite teacher, Diana, and submits it for the university’s contest. She wins and gets to read the essay at the ceremony.

In the years since, Reyna and her siblings have stayed close. They’ve tried repairing their relationship with Mami. In 2011, Papi dies from liver cancer. At the hospital, Reyna stands by his bed, holds his hand, and realizes he helped make her who she is.