51 pages • 1 hour read
Pam Muñoz RyanSolimar: The Sword of the Monarchs
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Arrival”
In the provincial Mexican kingdom of San Gregorio, Solimar and her friend, the quetzal bird Lázaro, hurry to the oyamel fir tree forest to watch the monarch butterflies arrive from their yearly migratory journey. Solimar carries a red silk rebozo, or shawl, and a crown she made of flowers. Although she is not allowed to be in the forest alone, or to cross the dangerous creek, she wants to sit amongst the butterflies.
Solimar decides she is old enough to cross the rushing water, despite Lázaro’s chirped warnings. Solimar jumps rocks across the creek, observing one special stone that has a sword-shaped crevice. Once across, Solimar watches, awed, as thousands of butterflies land on her rebozo. She promises them that she and her family will protect their forest. Solimar believes it is a miracle that the butterflies return to the same place every year. She wishes she knew what will happen in her life.
A ray of light passing through the sword-shaped hole in the river stone shines on Solimar as she holds out the butterfly-covered rebozo. She is enveloped in a sparkly cloud of butterflies and hears chanting. Solimar feels peaceful, not frightened. When the butterflies disperse, Solimar’s rebozo is imprinted with shimmering butterflies. Solimar crosses back over the creek so that her abuela, or grandmother, does not catch her on the wrong side. She decides to keep the shawl’s transformation to herself.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Almost Princess”
Solimar’s abuela, Doña Ana Socorro, joins Solimar to marvel at the butterflies. Abuela is an herbolaria who makes medicines from plants. Abuela is Queen Rosalinda’s mother, which makes Solimar royalty. The queen plans a big quinceañera party for Solimar to mark her 15th birthday and proclaim her a princess. Abuela wishes Solimar would grow her hair and look more royal, but Solimar refuses. She is frustrated by the fuss surrounding the festivities. Solimar is also upset that her brother, Prince Campeón, will become ruler, and that she will not get to make decisions for the kingdom.
Solimar wishes that she and other women could caravan with her father, King Sebastián, on the yearly expedition down the mountain to El Gran Mercado: a marketplace in the city of Puerto Rivera where artists from San Gregorio sell their wares. Her father and Campeón leave for the market the next day. Abuela sympathizes, but knows the five-day trip is dangerous. She urges Solimar to wait to plead for women’s inclusion.
Solimar shows Abuela the location of an herb but warns that the hill is slippery. Abuela finds the herb, and falls, harmlessly. Solimar is confused: She had never seen the herb before and somehow knew that Abuela would fall.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Too Many Coincidences”
Abuela and Solimar walk through the village on their way back to the castle. Monarch butterflies decorate the village flags and feature in the artwork that the San Gregorians are famous for, especially their butterfly-winged muñecas, or rag dolls. The tortilla-maker, Ricardo, hopes for a safe trip for the king’s caravan and wonders about the weather. Solimar blurts out a detailed forecast, surprising Abuela.
When Solimar’s former tutor, Josefina, worries about what her beau, Arturo, wants to tell her, Solimar says Arturo wants to marry her. When two of Campeón’s lady friends ask if he will announce a bride, Solimar exclaims he will not pick a bride or return with the caravan. Abuela disagrees, and Solimar apologizes. Abuela worries that Solimar, acting so strangely, is sick.
Entering the castle grounds, Solimar’s childhood friend María Batista requests a bouquet for Arturo, to give to Josefina when he proposes. As Abuela and Solimar head for the castle, a thunderstorm breaks. Both events prove Solimar’s predictions. Abuela wonders if they are lucky guesses. She asks Solimar where her cat is, but Solimar does not know. In her room, Solimar worries that she may be under a spell.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Revelations”
María brings Solimar some food and admires the beautiful rebozo. María promises to keep Solimar’s secret about crossing the creek, so Solimar tells her about sitting with the butterflies and the strange singing. María thinks the butterfly print was probably created by sunshine. She doubts that it grants Solimar the power to know the future.
The girls test Solimar’s precognition. Solimar cannot answer when the girls will join the caravan to El Gran Mercado, or what María’s chef mother is making for dinner. Solimar suddenly realizes she was outside in the sun each time she got an answer right, and when María questions Solimar on the now-sunny balcony, Solimar’s answers are correct. María puts it down to intuition and good guesswork. Solimar realizes she should keep the rebozo and its power secret.
Solimar worries that the answers to a question may be negative. She hides the rebozo in a closet, but it reappears on her bed. Solimar blames Lázaro. She puts it away a second and third time, but the shawl again reappears. When the fabric creeps towards her hand, Solimar, unfrightened, senses that the rebozo wants to be near her. Solimar decides she will ask Campeón for advice.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Alliances”
Solimar joins elegant, dark-haired Queen Rosalinda; rumpled, gray-haired King Sebastián; and her father’s long-time counselor, thin, mustached Señor Verde for dinner. They greet her affectionately. Abuela is absent, making medicines for the caravan, and Campeón waits upstairs to give Solimar something important. Nosy Señor Verde wonders why Campeón wants to see Solimar so urgently. He and the king speculate that Campeón worries about the expedition or about neighboring King Aveno, or as Sebastián calls him, King “ávido” or “greedy.”
King Aveno cleared the forests on his land and sold the lumber. He is pressuring other kingdoms to sell him acreage so he can strip it for profit. He wants to buy King Sebastián’s oyamel forest. Solimar, thinking of her promise to the butterflies, is horrified. Sebastián assures her he will not sell, despite the mysterious “offer-he-cannot-refuse” that King Aveno is cooking up. At Puerto Rivera, King Sebastián will meet with rulers of neighboring kingdoms and start an alliance against King Aveno. Señor Verde assures Sebastían that he and his new assistant, Juan Pedro, will take good care of things while he is gone. The queen and Señor Verde discuss upcoming quinceañera preparations and tear up at the thought of Solimar becoming a princess. Solimar goes to find Campeón.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
In these first five chapters, Muñoz Ryan introduces the idyllic Mexican kingdom of San Gregorio. Readers meet spunky, almost-princess Solimar, and learn about the personal challenges she faces in her tradition-bound society.
Opening with the word “Once,” Muñoz Ryan gives the novel a fairytale-like quality, placing it in Mexico’s distant past. Solimar is tied to Spanish history: She is a descendant of the 15th century rulers of Spain, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Muñoz Ryan’s detailed descriptions of Mexican flora and fauna—from Lázaro the resplendent quetzal to the oyamel fir trees—as well as Mexican foods and clothing, portray Solimar’s world as having magical and sacred qualities. By including words in the Spanish language, which Muñoz Ryan defines in English, she connects Solimar further to Spanish culture.
Solimar’s village and life are not as straightforward as they seem. Solimar’s communication with her pet quetzal, Lázaro, borders on magical. Magic also enters Solimar’s life in the form of the enchanted rebozo and her new gift of prophecy. Solimar is not greatly fazed by either. This is in keeping with magical realism, where magic is presented as a matter-of-fact part of a character’s world.
Solimar proves to be a plucky protagonist. About to turn 15, Solimar realizes that she is growing up and wants to make decisions for herself. She asserts her independence when she courageously—or foolishly, Lázaro implies—decides to cross the dangerous creek. Solimar chafes at restrictions on her freedom, like the rules against being in the forest alone, and is impatient with what she sees as entrenched societal expectations. Solimar dislikes the traditional pomp that accompanies the part of being royalty. She shows her individuality in her more practical and unpretentious approach to life: She refuses to grow her hair long to look the part of a princess and prefers a simple barbeque to that of a kingdom-wide celebration of her quinceañera. In this way, the novel sets up its exploration of a key theme, Girl Power: Finding Your Inner Strength. Solimar is already strong at the novel’s opening, but she will develop new and more nuanced dimensions throughout her journey.
Solimar is frustrated with the patriarchal principles of San Gregorio’s monarchy. She is upset that Campeón will inherit the kingdom and the decision-making power of the king. Solimar shows she is not a follower: She wants to be a leader. Solimar envisions a more egalitarian government when she suggests creating an elected body of counselors to advise the king. Solimar also advocates for equal rights for women. She sees the benefits of allowing women to join the yearly caravan to Puerta Rivera. In contrast, Abuela accepts the status quo. She is a foil for Solimar, or a character who illuminates another character through contrasting qualities. Women have never been included on the trip, and Abuela accepts that this is simply the way things are and always have been. After the expedition, Abuela does encourage Solimar to “never give up” trying to make changes, showing her support (13). Solimar’s dreams of equality reveal her self-awareness. She is coming of age. Her desire for a different future than that of a traditional princess is echoed in her wish to know what will happen next in her life.
Solimar’s solemn promise to protect the butterflies also indicates her growing maturity. She is not just independent and resilient, but protective of her community and those more vulnerable than herself. She takes responsibility for protecting the monarchs’ habitat. Solimar is reassured when Sebastián declares that he will never sell the land reassures, but the irresistible offer that King Aveno is formulating foreshadows trouble.
Muñoz Ryan sets King Aveno up as an early antagonist, and someone who values wealth more than nature. In contrast, King Sebastián and the people of San Gregorio value and protect the monarch butterflies that inform their culture. Ricardo, the tortilla-maker, agrees that the monarchs “are what define us, after all” (16). The butterflies have both spiritual and practical significance for San Gregorio. Solimar and the kingdom understand The Importance of Conservation—one of the novel’s central themes.
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