Literature pg. 17-22 By: Savannah BANKD

Chapter 1: My mother the slave The first chapter introduces us to Evelyn Serrano and her mother, who she calls "Mami." The story starts with an argument between Evelyn and her mom about her new job and how she is not working at her family's bodega. The chapter gives a detailed description of the family's apartment in Spanish Harlem. We learn about influences of Puerto Rico on her mother's decorating style and we begin to see Evelyn's struggle with her identity. 

Chapter 2: El Barrio Chapter 2 we meet Angel, a boy Evelyn knew since she was little, and we also meet Angel’s father. We also learn Angel’s father is mean to him and abusive. After the first encounter with Angel we get a clear impression of him. At the five-and-dime we meet Mr. Simpson, Lydia, and Dolores that work there. We also meet Awilda, Dora, and Migdalia who are acquaintances with Evelyn.

Chapter 3: the lady with no eyebrows appears In chapter 3 Evelyn’s grandmother is Introduced. The reason she is called the lady with no eyebrows is because she has drawn on her eyebrows with a black makeup pencil. We learn that Evelyn’s mother does not like “abuela.” Evelyn goes to the roof to escape only to find Angel who realizes that she needs time alone.

Chapter 4: if only I were a cockroach Evelyn is upset that her grandmother is ruining her life. Her grandmother took over her bedroom, the bathroom, and causing her to have to sleep on the couch and making her stepfather very angry. Abuela offers Evelyn a cloth covered hair tie and then mentions she needs to go to the store. She goes to the five and dime where she embarrasses Evelyn and Evelyn wants to hide like a cockroach.

Bozo the clown 

Chapter 5: wilfredo Wilfredo come into the five and dime and wants a key made but Evelyn can not make it because it says “ Do Not Duplicate.” We are left wondering what is he going to do with the crowbar and key after he meets a group of boys who are believed to belong to a gang.

Chapter 6: killer photo album The tension rises between Miami and Abuela who are fighting over everything. Later Evelyn goes to her room and finds a photo album containing Christmas cards pictures from her youth and a newspaper article with a terrifying picture of policeman shooting into a crowd of people

Chapter 7: first Spanish Methodist church In this chapter Evelyn tells us that going to church isn’t her favorite thing but unlike Abuela and Pops, she doesn’t have an excuse not to attend. When she gets home she goes to her parents shop where they’re watching the news and talking about Hippies and making Evelyn cry by yelling at her.

Chapter 8: a separate world nearby Evelyn inns up in a neighborhood with people who aren’t all Puerto Rican. She sees Dolores from the five and dime store, Dolores introduces Evelyn to her friends and invites Evelyn to her mothers house where they talk and Evelyn ends up leaving after telling them about her grandmother’s photo album.

Chapter 9: angel A week later Evelyn’s mother wants her to go to church but Evelyn refuses to and her mother lets her stay home. After a while she hears angel and then sees him lying on the sidewalk after his father hit him, Evelyn gets angry at her grandmother and Don Juan. She runs away and find angel and after a while they go to the park and sit there peacefully on a rock until night.

Chapter 10: garbage on fire After church Evelyn and her mother go down the street and find the garbage being pushed into big piles. She sees almost everyone she knows and decides to help sweep with the college boys. Once the garbage is in big piles it is set on fire and when the police arrive no one runs away, later that night on TV the news caster announce the group responsible was doing this so the garbage men would come And get the trash. The group responsible was “The Young Lords”

Chapter 11: who is a young lord? New York Times article introduces the young lords. Evelyn questions her grandmother, wondering if she is a young Lord. Evelyn’s grandmother takes her into her bedroom and explains the photo album to her. After a while Evelyn‘s mother comes then ending their conversation. Everyone realizes she now has a secret with her grandmother.

Chapter 12: The faceless killer Abuela is slowly taking up more space in their small apartment. In this chapter, Evelyn learns how her grandparents met and her grandfather was. Evelyn‘s grandfather came from a wealthy family and learned that her grandmother didn’t love her grandfather and spit in time living with her parents to get away from them. Later that night the pictures are gone and Evelyn dreams about policeman shooting people but the policeman has no face.