The Stolen Party
This girl is the birthday child who invites Rosaura to her party.
Who is Luciana?
Chris's dad struggles to talk to Chris after the accident primarily because he feels this emotion toward himself.
What is guilt (or blame)?
Both main characters, Chris and Rosaura, fall into this specific age/grade range.
What is upper elementary/middle school?
In "The Stolen Party," this animal in the kitchen symbolizes Rosaura's trapped position as entertainment/help for the rich.
What is the monkey?
In "The Stolen Party," this event directly causes the initial argument between Rosaura and her mother before the party starts.
What is Rosaura being invited to Luciana's birthday party (or her mother claiming the monkey isn't real)?
Rosaura’s mother works as one of these for Luciana’s family.
What is a maid (or housekeeper/cleaner)?
This character says this quote, "I thought you were terrible at first... Now you’re just pretty bad. But I think you can play with that Madison team."
Who is Jim Blair (Chris’s father)?
Both Chris and Rosaura perform tasks or sports at their events exceptionally well because they share a strong desire to earn this from others.
What is approval, respect, or acceptance?
Before leaving the house, Rosaura proudly checks her appearance in the mirror, wearing a white dress from this holiday.
What is Christmas?
In "Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push," this tragedy permanently changes Chris’s life and ends his father’s dream of him playing traditional basketball.
What is a car accident on a slippery highway?
This character says this quote, "You really and truly earned this... Thank you for all your help, my pet."
Who is Señora Ines?
This was the name of the opposing wheelchair basketball team that Chris’s team played in their practice game.
What is the Madison Clippers (or Madison)?
While Chris’s father expresses his internal conflict through silent grumbling and avoiding games, Rosaura’s mother expresses her conflict using this type of communication.
What is blunt/harsh language (or direct arguments and warnings)?
The magician calls Rosaura by this noble title after she helps him with his trick.
What is "my little countess"?
While Rosaura's story ends with a harsh, unresolved realization about her place in society, Chris's story ends on this contrasting emotional note regarding his family.
What is hope, acceptance, or family reconnection?
Instead of a bracelet or a yo-yo, Señora Ines gave Rosaura this item from her purse at the end of the party.
What is two bills / money?
When Chris’s dad first sat in a wheelchair to shoot, this embarrassing thing happened to his chair.
What is it spun all the way around?
In both stories, a specific setting serves as the primary location where the main characters try to prove their belonging—a gym for Chris and this location for Rosaura.
What is a rich family's house (or mansion/palace)?
In "Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push," the wheelchair basketball team names themselves this.
What is the Hartsdale Posse?
Both stories suggest that parents often try to protect their children from emotional pain based on these personal memories.
What are their own past failures, hardships, or life experiences?
At the end of the party, Rosaura expects Señora Ines to give her two presents—the bracelet and the yo-yo—because she compares herself to a queen with power over life and death based on how she distributed this item.
What is the birthday cake?
During halftime of their game against Madison, Chris’s dad signaled his complete commitment to the team by using this specific pronoun.
What is "we"?
Both parents initially oppose or act cold toward their child's social event out of fear; for Jim Blair, it is the fear of facing his own guilt, while for Herminia, it is the fear of her daughter facing this harsh reality.
What is class discrimination (or social rejection / inequality)?
Before the magician's trick, Rosaura gets back at the girl with the bow by doing this.
What is cutting her a slice of cake so thin you could "see through it?"
In "Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push," the phrase "a dream needs a push" serves as a metaphor for...
What is adapting to life's challenges?