Mexican WhiteBoy

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. National City is a suburb of what California city?

2. What is the goal of stickball that the boys play in Danny’s cul-de-sac in National City?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What inspires Uno’s confidence that he will be the most successful stickball player this summer?

2. Explain the circumstances that cause Danny’s head injury in Chapter 3?

Paired Resource

“Cruising returns to National City after 30-year ban is temporarily lifted”

• A “lowrider” is a car culture term that refers to a customized vehicle, originating in the mid-to-late 1940s. Lowriders, historically, have been important to the Mexican-American community, particularly in Los Angeles and many other California communities.
• In this video from May 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports on National City’s decision to temporarily lift their anti-cruising ordinance – a rule that had effectively banned the practice of driving lowriders throughout the city.
• What does this video tell you about the community and culture of National City, the main setting in which Mexican WhiteBoy takes place? How might an anti-cruising law have racist and/or other problematic implications?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. According to Senior, where can “men who seek the path to wisdom” find the answers?

2. At whose apartment does Danny recover from the injuries Uno inflicts on him?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Sofia’s conversation with Uno in Chapter 6, she calls out the real reason Uno dislikes Danny. What is the reason? How does Sofia’s confrontation with Uno affect the dynamic of their relationship?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. What beverage is Uno drinking in his car in Chapter 7 when Sofia and Danny head to the Del Mar Fair?

2. At their grandmother’s house for a family dinner, Sofia tells Danny that which girl has a crush on him?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Lolo think the pitching booth at the Del Mar Fair is rigged, and what does he want as a result?

Paired Resource

Batting 1000: The Influence of Latinos and Latin Americans in MLB

• This blog post by the Library of Congress describes the historical influence of Latinos and Latin American individuals in throughout the history of baseball.
• In modern times, “on average, foreign-born players make up about one third of the entire U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) organization, with Latin born players being the majority of that group.”
• How does Danny’s interest in baseball connect to the larger history of Latin American influence and involvement in the sport?  

Chapters 10-13

Reading Check

1. Danny’s mom tells him on the phone while on her trip in San Francisco that she is taking a class. What kind of class is it?

2. Senior imparts some wisdom to Uno about being a worker, which is about not being what?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What leads to Danny and Uno’s reconciliation in Chapter 12?

2. While Danny’s at the drive-in movies with Sofia and her friends, what painful memories surface?

Chapters 14-17

Reading Check

1. Tommy tells Sofia that Danny takes after who in the family?

2. Who do Uno and Danny attempt to hustle in Chapter 15?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What are some ways in which Danny copes with the disappointment of having a poor pitching performance and therefore letting Uno down?

2. How does Uno react when he examines the self-harm scars on Danny’s arms in Chapter 17? How does Danny reply?

Chapters 18-20

Reading Check

1. What is the location of Uno and Danny’s next hustle?

2. Before their rematch with Carmelo, Uno tells Danny that “the art of hustlin’ is preservin’ a sucker’s ___.” Fill in the blank.

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 19, Senior tells Danny an anecdote about a young man breaking into his home. What happens in the story and what is the moral of the story?

Chapters 21-23

Reading Check

1. To where is Danny considering booking a flight to see his father in Chapter 21?

2. What does Sofia reveal to Danny about his father, something that Danny’s mother refuses to acknowledge?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What major news does Uno’s mother announce in Chapter 23, and how will it affect the trajectory of Uno’s life?

Paired Resource

Living in Dual Cultures at the US/Mexico Border

• This PBS Short Documentary profiles two women living in Far West Texas who discover the trials and tribulations of living in two cultures at the same time.
• What do the women in this book find hopeful, if anything? Compare and contrast their experience with what the characters in Mexican WhiteBoy find hopeful, connecting to the book’s theme of False Hope versus Real Hope.

Chapters 24-27

Reading Check

1. After Ray hits the cyclist in his Bronco, Danny thinks to himself that Ray reminds him of who?

2. In Chapter 26, when Sofia tells Uno she feels as though she’s being left behind, Uno advises her to consider going where?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Danny’s withholding of information about Uncle Ray hitting the cyclist affect Danny and Uno’s relationship?

Paired Resource

Violence & Socioeconomic Status

• The American Psychological Association (APA) outlines the relationship between violence and socioeconomic status, and explains how exposure to violence affects a person’s outcomes in life, regardless on one’s socioeconomic status.
• This APA article can help us understand why the characters in Mexican WhiteBoy suffer from Violence and its Consequences.
• Look through the array of outcomes the APA lists for children and young adults that bear witness to violence. Which of them, if any, are present in Mexican WhiteBoy?

Chapters 28-30

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the train that Danny and Uno take to Leucadia?

2. What does Danny have for dinner to celebrate his last night in National City before heading to Leucadia?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Danny’s mood at the end of the novel as he waits for the train to Leucadia, and what does it imply about his future prospects?

Recommended Next Reads

The Living

• This novel, published in 2013, followed de la Peña’s Mexican WhiteBoy.
• A natural disaster is at its heart, and it comments on the social divide of race and class in American culture, building on themes of Violence and Its Consequences.
• The Living on SuperSummary

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

• A 2019 YA novel by Erika L. Sanchez that deals with the pressures, beliefs, and stereotypes involved in growing up in a Mexican American home, as shown through the protagonist, Julia
• As it explores Julia’s family and community, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter further develops the theme of The Limiting Nature of Homogeneous Groups found in de la Peña’s novel.
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter on SuperSummary