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 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Secrets”
Tall, dark-eyed Campeón meets Solimar and admits that he is concerned about the expedition. The journey can be filled with unexpected hazards, and he is not good with animals. Solimar wishes they could send their goods down the Río Diablo, but the devil’s river, with its rapids and cave labyrinth, is too dangerous. Campeón swears Solimar to secrecy, then confides that he will not return to San Gregorio after the market. Campeón, bookish and thoughtful, feels trapped in his role as heir to the kingdom. He wants to travel the world and find his passion, instead of being king.
Campeón explained this to King Sebastián, but his father is set in tradition, and wants Campeón to succeed him. Campeón, however, has planned an escape. When the caravan reaches Puerto Rivera, Campeón will sneak away from camp, board a large ship, and work as a deckhand. Solimar is stunned. She argues for Campeón to stay. She says that as king, he will have power and be able to do what he wants, and that people expect him to rule. Campeón counters that Solimar was the one who played ruler in all their childhood games, not him. Solimar wants Campeón to be happy and agrees to keep his secret. She decides it is too difficult to explain the rebozo.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Taking Leave”
Solimar joins everyone in sending off the caravan. She notices Campeón talking with Abuela. Campeón asks Solimar what he will dream. Standing in the sun, Solimar says he will dream of being aboard ship, with his arms outstretched like a bird’s wings. Campeón told Abuela his plans and says that Abuela wants to talk with Solimar. The king asks for the villagers’ prayers for safety, and the caravan with the village’s menfolk and loads of crafts, depart to cheers.
Abuela realizes that Solimar has the gift of prophecy and is under a spell. Solimar confides everything. The next morning, Abuela and Solimar go secretly to the castle library. Abuela removes a golden book from a shelf, opening a secret passage in the bookcase. They emerge from a chilly tunnel onto the hillside on the far side of the castle. Abuela uses the tunnel—originally designed as an escape route if the castle is attacked—to visit her teacher, the curandera or healer Doña Flor Espinoza. Solimar says that Doña Flor is a witch, but Abuela disagrees: Her enchantments are positive. Doña Flor can help Solimar understand the rebozo’s spell. Abuela asks that Solimar keep the tunnel a secret and accept the strange things she may see in Doña Flor’s house.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Doña Flor Espinoza”
Solimar and Abuela follow a damp, shadowy trail, coming to a waterfall which pours into a stream. Abuela crosses the wooden bridge over the stream, and Solimar bravely follows. They reach a small stone house in a clearing, and Doña Flor greets them. The curandera is dressed in a red skirt and white blouse and wears her hair in a long braid. Solimar fearfully stammers a greeting. Doña Flor hugs her and invites them inside for hot chocolate.
Solimar is unnerved by the rows of painted sun and moon masks that seem to watch her, and the colorful row of muñecas de trapo, or rag dolls, one of which winks at her. Doña Flor’s plants and herbs seem much creepier to Solimar than Abuela’s. Doña Flor notices Solimar’s concern and explains her “apothecary” with some rhyming sentences describing various medicines and the ailments they cure. Doña Flor serves them hot chocolate, adding a mysterious sprinkle of something. Solimar thinks she and Abuela should not drink the chocolate, but Abuela compliments Doña Flor’s addition of cayenne pepper. Solimar, embarrassed, drinks the beverage and relaxes. The strange faces and dolls now seem friendly, and Solimar feels safe. Solimar tells Doña Flor everything about the butterfly rebozo.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Magic”
According to Doña Flor’s great grandmother, when monarch butterflies are too weak or young to complete migration, they are vulnerable to predators. Given the declining monarch population, every butterfly is important. The ancestral spirits of the monarchs chose Solimar as a protector of these weaker butterflies which are now magically embedded in the rebozo. The butterflies require sunlight to gain strength. Other butterflies will collect them when they have grown stronger. The monarchs share their gift of prophecy with Solimar, but every question she answers using the gift saps their strength. If she uses too much, they could die. Doña Flor warns her to keep her gift and the rebozo a secret.
Solimar plans to stay inside as much as possible and sun the rebozo on her balcony until all the butterflies emerge. The women investigate a loud noise outside but find nothing. Back inside, Doña Flor explains that anyone trying to take away the rebozo will be punished. Suddenly, all the muñecas start talking. The dolls, Doña Flor reassures a startled Solimar, are helpful and kind. She foresees a friendship between Solimar and the doll Zarita.
Returning home, Abuela explains that she did not tell anyone about Doña Flor’s magic because no one would believe her. Abuela knows a bit of magic herself. To her surprise, Solimar finds Zarita in her pocket.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Fittings and Alterations”
Solimar makes excuses to stay in her room. She exposes the rebozo to the sun and chats with Zarita, who can speak. Zarita can also speak quetzal and converse with Lázaro. One day, when Solimar puts the shawl in the sun, butterflies fly out of the forest, and she hears chanting. Butterflies emerge from the shawl, landing on her briefly as if saying thank you, then join the others and fly away. Moved, Solimar feels a strengthened sense of purpose to protect the monarchs.
On the day of the dress fittings for Solimar and her quinceañera court, María excitedly views Solimar’s special silver shoes. As per tradition, Solimar will start her quinceañera wearing flat-heeled shoes, like a little girl. Her father will change her flat shoes for the heeled ones, signifying her transition to womanhood. Solimar allows Zarita and Lázaro to go to the girls’ fittings, where the seamstress, Abuela, and María’s mother Señora Batista await. Solimar’s coral-colored dress is covered in embroidered sequin butterflies. Solimar is sad that her mother is missing the fitting because she is meeting with Señor Verde, Juan Pedro, and King Aveno, who arrived earlier with his guards. Solimar leaves the sewing room to get her silver shoes and is horrified to hear screams when she returns.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
Through Solimar, the novel explores Coming of Age: Balancing Independence and Responsibility. Solimar learns she is not the only one in her family frustrated with old conventions. She demonstrates growing maturity as she discovers more about herself and the world.
Campeón is both similar to and different from Solimar. Like Solimar, he desires freedom, in his case from his fixed role as heir to the throne, and chafes against societal expectations. He also shows self-knowledge in his struggle against stereotypes, recognizing that he does not have the heart or passion to be king. Instead, he decides to pursue his dreams and find his true self. However, Campeón initially is not protective of others or his community the way that Solimar is. He values his autonomy above all else.
Paradoxically, Solimar uses the same argument to convince Campeón to be king that Abuela does when Solimar resents being excluded because she is female: “‘It’s […] it’s just the way of the land’” (43). Solimar, hearing herself, knows that her argument is weak. Even though Campeón’s vision of happiness is different from her own—unlike Campeón, she would gladly assume the obligations and responsibilities of kingship—Solimar shows her love for her brother by agreeing to keep his secret. She also empathizes with his unhappiness at being defined by others: Solimar suffers the same problem.
Solimar shows that she is maturing in the way she cares for the rebozo. Despite feeling sorry for herself when having to stay in her room to protect the butterflies, her diligence is rewarded when several of the monarchs emerge. Solimar’s success, and her love for the butterflies, reaffirms her commitment to protect them, and she repeats her vow to keep them safe. Solimar is a conservationist, acting for the preservation and protection of the monarchs, both present and future generations. Doña Flor educates Solimar—and readers—when she relays how the butterflies are “diminishing,” and how each one is important for reproducing and perpetuating the species. In keeping her promise to the monarchs, Solimar is living up to new, adult responsibilities.
Solimar also shows adaptability when she discovers that things she took for granted are not what they seem. Solimar learns that Abuela has secrets of her own, including her friendship with her teacher, Doña Flor. Solimar, though at first wary, accepts the magic she witnesses at Doña Flor’s house, earning Abuela’s praise: “‘I’m proud of you, Solimar, for listening and not overreacting at Doña Flor’s’” (67). Solimar’s acceptance of new ideas reveals her open-mindedness and growing emotional maturity. Solimar shrewdly recognizes the wider, dangerous consequences, both to the butterflies and to her reputation, of letting others know about the rebozo’s power. The responsibilities of the rebozo and of the secrets she pledges to keep help Solimar discover more about herself.
Solimar’s quinceañera will formally mark Solimar’s transition from childhood to adulthood, and from ordinary girl to official royalty, symbolized by her silver high-heeled shoes. Though Solimar dislikes the pomp, she is taken aback when she hardly recognizes herself in the mirror at her dress fitting: “She couldn’t stop looking at her reflection. Was she really seeing herself?” (77). Her image reflects a different, more mature Solimar than the image in her mind. Solimar recognizes that she is growing up.
Solimar’s desire to make an impact in her kingdom, her acceptance of new responsibility, and her flexibility in accepting new ideas are characteristics that make her a strong heroine. Through Solimar’s pluckiness and the characters of Abuela and Doña Flor, the novel explores Girl Power: Finding Your Inner Strength. The two older women act as mentors to Solimar, guiding and teaching her. Abuela opens Solimar’s eyes to the importance of empowerment through knowledge. Abuela insists that learning about the rebozo’s spell “will give [you] some control, some power over it” (54). Doña Flor dispels stereotypes about “brujas,” or witches, showing that though powerful, she is warm and caring. Both women are strong, intelligent, and gifted herbalistas.
Muñoz Ryan shows how society disapproves of and is afraid of what is different. The strengths of Abuela and Doña Flor are not completely accepted by mainstream society. Negative rumors circulate about Doña Flor, and Abuela keeps her knowledge of enchantments to herself so as not to be thought unstable and “an embarrassment to the kingdom” (67). Though empowered female characters, they are, like Campeón and Solimar, limited by “the way of the land” (43).
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By Pam Muñoz Ryan
