Cajas de Carton

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

“Under the Wire,” “Soledad”

Reading Check

1. The family in “Under the Wire” lives in a rural community just outside of what city?

2. When the family in “Under the Wire” reaches the border between Mexico and California, how many suitcases do they have between them?

3. In “Soledad,” what is the type of crop that the narrator’s family is tasked with harvesting that day?

Short Answer

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

1. In “Under the Wire,” before the family crosses the border from Mexico into California, what are the narrator’s and his family’s general beliefs about the state of California? Do they believe it to be a “good” place or a “bad” place?

2. “Soledad” is the Spanish word for loneliness. Why do you think the book’s second chapter is titled as such?

Paired Resource

“After a Rural California Hospital Closes, Farmworkers Pay the Price”

• This article published by PBS NewsHour covers gaps in healthcare access and other complicating factors for Central California’s farmworkers.
• This article shows, from the contexts of health care limitations, the conditions that can lead to Grief and Alienation for migrant farmworkers.