In Holt Literature and Language Arts, you read Sandra Cisneros's ...

In Holt Literature and Language Arts, you read Sandra
Cisneros’s “Eleven,” about a girl named Rachel and her
awful experience in school on her eleventh birthday.
Although Rachel is a fictional character, she is similar to
Cisneros as a young girl. Like Rachel, Cisneros was shy and awkward
and sometimes had a hard time in school. Cisneros’s childhood
experiences are very much a part of her writing.
In “Three Wise Guys,” you read about a family waiting for the day
they’ll get to open a mysterious present and what happens to them
once they discover what’s inside.
Did you ever receive a present you weren’t allowed to open right
away? Did you think about it all the time? So do the Gonzaleses,
the family in “Three Wise Guys.” As you read this story, try to
guess what the present is. Then, at the end of the story, think
about the effect of the present on each family member.
Here’s what you need to know before you read this story:
• This story is based on the Spanish tradition of exchanging
gifts on Three Kings’ Day, January sixth.
• The story includes some Spanish words, which are defined
by the footnotes at the bottom of each page.
Reading
Standard 3.7
Explain the
effects of
common literary
devices (for
example,
symbolism,
imagery,
metaphor)
in a variety of
fictional and
nonfictional
texts.
Sandra Cisneros 235

Actually, Dia de los Reyes
means “Day of the Kings.”
The kings were Magi, or
wise men.
Notice the superscript
numbers (the raised
numbers) next to Spanish
words. These numbers are
references to the footnotes
at the bottom of the pages.
Why are these footnotes
important in this story?
Find and underline three
examples of imagery in this
paragraph. What does this
imagery add to the story?
Sandra Cisneros
236 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination
10
20
The big box came marked “Do Not Open till Xmas,” but
the mama said not until the Day of the Three Kings. Not
until Dia de los Reyes, the sixth of January, do you hear?
That is what the mama said exactly, only she said it all in
Spanish. Because in Mexico where she was raised, it is the
custom for boys and girls to receive their presents on
January sixth, and not Christmas, even though they were
living on the Texas side of the river1 now. Not until the
sixth day of January.
Yesterday the mama had risen in the dark same as
always to reheat the coffee in a tin saucepan and warm the
breakfast tortillas. 2 The papa had gotten up coughing and
spitting up the night, complaining how the evening before
the buzzing of the chicharras3 had kept him from sleeping.
By the time the mama had the house smelling of oatmeal
and cinnamon, the papa would be gone to the fields, the
sun already tangled in the trees and the urracas4 screeching
their rubber-screech cry. The boy Ruben and the girl
Rosalinda would have to be shaken awake for school. The
mama would give the baby Gilberto his bottle and then
she would go back to sleep before getting up again to the
chores that were always waiting. That is how the world
had been.
1. river n.: Rio Grande, which separates Mexico and Texas.
2. tortillas (tôr •t≤√y¥s) n.: thin, flat cakes of cornmeal or flour.
3. chicharras (¬≤ •¬ä√räs) n.: cicadas, insects that make a loud, highpitched
sound.
4. urracas (º •rä√käs) n.: magpies, black and white birds belonging to the
crow family, known for their chattering.
“Three Wise Guys” by Sandra Cisneros. Copyright © 1990 by Sandra Cisneros. First published by Vista
Magazine, December 23, 1990. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Susan Bergholz Literary
Services, New York.

30
40
50
But today the big box had arrived. When the boy
Ruben and the girl Rosalinda came home from school, it
was already sitting in the living room in front of the
television set that no longer worked. Who had put it there?
Where had it come from? A box covered with red paper
with green Christmas trees and a card on top that said
“Merry Christmas to the Gonzales Family. Frank, Earl, and
Dwight Travis. P.S. Do Not Open till Xmas.” That’s all.
Two times the mama was made to come into the living
room, first to explain to the children and later to their
father how the brothers Travis had arrived in the blue
pickup, and how it had taken all three of those big men to
lift the box off the back of the truck and bring it inside, and
how she had had to nod and say thank-you thank-you
thank-you over and over because those were the only words
she knew in English. Then the brothers Travis had nodded
as well, the way they always did when they came and
brought the boxes of clothes, or the turkey each November,
or the canned ham on Easter, ever since the children had
begun to earn high grades at the school where Dwight
Travis was the principal.
But this year the Christmas box was bigger than usual.
What could be in a box so big? The boy Ruben and the girl
Rosalinda begged all afternoon to be allowed to open it,
and that is when the mama had said the sixth of January,
the Day of the Three Kings. Not a day sooner.
It seemed the weeks stretched themselves wider and
wider since the arrival of the big box. The mama got used
to sweeping around it because it was too heavy for her to
push in a corner. But since the television no longer worked
ever since the afternoon the children had poured iced tea
through the little grates in the back, it really didn’t matter if
• • • • • • Notes • • • • • •
Why do the brothers bring
clothes and food on holidays?
What can you infer
about the family’s financial
status?
Some sentences within the
boxed passage are long.
Practice reading the passage
aloud, and pay special attention
to the long sentences.
Notice where the commas
are, and use them as a signal
to pause. Practice reading at
a rate that is not too fast
and not too slow.
Sandra Cisneros 237

obstructed (¥b •struk√tid) v.:
blocked.
distract (di •strakt√) v.: draw
attention away from;
sidetrack.
simplicity (sim •plis√¥ •t≤) n.:
absence of complexity;
plainness.
Replace the word simplicity
with the word plainness in
the sentence. Is the sentence
as effective? Why or why
not?
238 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination
60
70
80
the box obstructed the view. Visitors that came inside
the house were told and told again the story of how the
box had arrived, and then each was made to guess what
was inside.
It was the comadre5 Elodia who suggested over coffee
one afternoon that the big box held a portable washing
machine that could be rolled away when not in use, the
kind she had seen in her Sears Roebuck catalog. The mama
said she hoped so because the wringer washer she had used
for the last ten years had finally gotten tired and quit. These
past few weeks she had had to boil all the clothes in the big
pot she used for cooking the Christmas tamales. 6 Yes. She
hoped the big box was a portable washing machine. A
washing machine, even a portable one, would be good.
But the neighbor man Cayetano said, what foolishness,
comadre. Can’t you see the box is too small to hold a
washing machine, even a portable one. Most likely God
has heard your prayers and sent a new color TV. With a
good antenna you could catch all the Mexican soap operas,
the neighbor man said. You could distract yourself with the
complicated troubles of the rich and then give thanks to
God for the blessed simplicity of your poverty. A new TV
would surely be the end to all your miseries.
Each night when the papa came home from the fields,
he would spread newspapers on the cot in the living room,
where the boy Ruben and the girl Rosalinda slept, and sit
facing the big box in the center of the room. Each night he
imagined the box held something different. The day before
yesterday he guessed a new record player. Yesterday an ice
chest filled with beer. Today the papa sat with his bottle of
5. comadre (ko •mä√dr†) n.: woman who is a relative or close friend of
the family (the “co-mother”).
6. tamales (t¥ •mä√l≤z) n.: meat and peppers cooked in a corn husk.

90
100
110
beer, fanning himself with a magazine, and said in a voice
as much a plea as a prophecy: air conditioner.
But the boy Ruben and the girl Rosalinda were sure
the big box was filled with toys. They had even punctured it
in one corner with a pencil when their mother was busy
cooking, but they could see nothing inside but blackness.
Only the baby Gilberto remained uninterested in the
contents of the big box and seemed each day more fascinated
with the exterior of the box rather that the interior. One
afternoon he tore off a fistful of paper, which he was
chewing when his mother swooped him up with one arm,
rushed him to the kitchen sink, and forced him to swallow
handfuls of lukewarm water in case the red dye of the
wrapping paper might be poisonous.
When Christmas Eve finally came, the family Gonzalez
put on their good clothes and went to Midnight Mass. They
came home to a house that smelled of tamales and atole, 7
and everyone was allowed to open one present before going
to sleep. But the big box was to remain untouched until the
sixth of January.
On New Year’s Eve the house was filled with people,
some related, some not, coming in and out. The friends of
the papa came with bottles, and the mama set out a bowl of
grapes to count off the New Year. That night the children
did not sleep in the living-room cot as they usually did,
because the living room was crowded with big-fannied
ladies and fat-stomached men sashaying to the accordion
music of the midget twins from McAllen. 8 Instead the
children fell asleep on a lump of handbags and crumpled
suit jackets on top of the mama and the papa’s bed,
dreaming of the contents of the big box.
7. atole (ä •t£√l†) n.: broth made from corn flour.
8. McAllen: Texas city near the Mexican border.
What do you learn in lines
60–89 about each person
based on what he or she
hopes is inside the box?
Underline the images in lines
100–116 that help you imagine
what the house was like
on the holidays.
Sandra Cisneros 239

Soon the box will be opened.
Make a prediction about
what you think is inside.
Then read on and see if
your prediction is right.
“Coughing up the night
before” in lines 129–130 is
not literally true. What does
this figure of speech mean?
120
130
140
240 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination
Finally, the fifth of January. And the boy Ruben and
the girl Rosalinda could hardly sleep. All night they
whispered last-minute wishes. The boy thought perhaps if
the big box held a bicycle, he would be the first to ride it,
since he was the oldest. This made his sister cry until the
mama had to yell from her bedroom on the other side of
the plastic curtains, Be quiet or I’m going to give you each
the stick, which sounds worse in Spanish than it does in
English. Then no one said anything. After a very long time,
long after they heard the mama’s wheezed breathing and
the papa’s piped snoring, the children closed their eyes and
remembered nothing.
The papa was already in the bathroom coughing up
the night before from his throat when the urracas began
their clownish chirping. The boy Ruben awoke and shook
his sister. The mama, frying the potatoes and beans for
breakfast, nodded permission for the box to be opened.
With a kitchen knife the boy Ruben cut a careful edge
along the top. The girl Rosalinda tore the Christmas
wrapping with her fingernails. The papa and the mama
lifted the cardboard flaps and everyone peered inside to
see what it was the brothers Travis had brought them on
the Day of the Three Kings.
There were layers of balled newspaper packed on top.
When these had been cleared away the boy Ruben looked
inside. The girl Rosalinda looked inside. The papa and the
mama looked.
This is what they saw: the complete Britannica Junior
Encyclopaedia, twenty-four volumes in red imitation
leather with gold-embossed letters, beginning with
Volume 1, Aar–Bel and ending with Volume XXIV,
Yel–Zyn. The girl Rosalinda let out a sad cry, as if her

150
160
170
hair was going to be cut again. The boy Ruben pulled out
Volume IV, Ded–Fem. There were many pictures and many
words, but there were more words than pictures. The papa
flipped through Volume XXII, but because he could not
read English words, simply put the book back and grunted,
What can we do with this? No one said anything, and
shortly after, the screen door slammed.
Only mama knew what to do with the contents of the
big box. She withdrew Volumes VI, VII, and VIII, marched
off to the dinette set in the kitchen, placed two on
Rosalinda’s chair so she could better reach the table, and
put one underneath the plant stand that danced.
When the boy and girl returned from school that
day, they found the books stacked into squat pillars against
one living-room wall and a board placed on top. On this
were arranged several plastic doilies and framed family
photographs. The rest of the volumes the baby Gilberto
was playing with, and he was already rubbing his sore gums
along the corners of Volume XIV.
The girl Rosalinda also grew interested in the books.
She took out her colored pencils and painted blue on the
eyelids of all the illustrations of women and with a red
pencil dipped in spit she painted their lips and fingernails
red-red. After a couple of days, when all the pictures of
women had been colored in this manner, she began to cut
out some of the prettier pictures and paste them on looseleaf
paper.
One volume suffered from being exposed to the rain
when the papa improvised a hat during a sudden shower.
He forgot it on the hood of the car when he drove off.
When the children came home from school they set it on
What does each person do
with the gift? See lines
156–177.
The plant stand in line 160
is personified—that is, it is
spoken of as if it were
human. What is the plant
stand doing that only
humans can do?
Sandra Cisneros 241

Pause at line 202. What
discovery has Ruben made?
What could the colors in
the final lines of the story
symbolize?
What do you think the story’s
title means? Could it have
more than one meaning?
180
190
200
242 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination
the porch to dry. But the pages puffed up and became so
fat, the book was impossible to close.
Only the boy Ruben refused to touch the books. For
several days he avoided the principal because he didn’t
know what to say in case Mr. Travis were to ask how they
were enjoying the Christmas present.
On the Saturday after New Year’s the mama and the
papa went into town for groceries and left the boy in
charge of watching his sister and baby brother. The girl
Rosalinda was stacking books into spiral staircases and
making her paper dolls descend them in a fancy manner.
Perhaps the boy Ruben would not have bothered to
open the volume left on the kitchen table if he had not seen
his mother wedge her name-day corsage9 in its pages. On
the page where the mama’s carnation lay pressed between
two pieces of Kleenex was a picture of a dog in a space ship.
“First dog in space” the caption said. The boy turned to
another page and read where cashews came from. And then
about the man who invented the guillotine. And then about
Bengal tigers. And about clouds. All afternoon the boy read,
even after the mama and the papa came home. Even after
the sun set, until the mama said time to sleep and put the
light out.
In their bed on the other side of the plastic curtain the
mama and the papa slept. Across from them in the crib
slept the baby Gilberto. The girl Rosalinda slept on her end
of the cot. But the boy Ruben watched the night sky turn
from violet. To blue. To gray. And then from gray. To blue.
To violet once again.
9. name-day corsage (kôr •sä¤√) n.: flower or a bunch of flowers that are
worn to celebrate the feast day of the saint for whom a person is
named.

Symbolism A symbol is a thing that represents something besides
itself. What do you think the encyclopedias are symbolic of? Write
your answer in two or three sentences.
Personal Word List You probably came across some new words in
this story. They may have been Spanish words or English words you
were unfamiliar with. Choose five words, and add them to your
Personal Word List. Write an English word that means the same thing
as each Spanish word.
Personal Reading Log Did you enjoy this story? Explain why or why
not in your Personal Reading Log. Give yourself 4 points on the
Reading Meter for completing it.
Checklist for Standards Mastery You’ve finished reading and
responding to another selection. Use the Checklist for Standards
Mastery to determine how far you’ve come in mastering the standards.
Sandra Cisneros 243

Three Wise Guys Interactive Reading, page 236
Go Beyond a Literary Text
Author Profile Use your library and the Internet to find out
more about Sandra Cisneros. As you find information, enter it
on the author-profile chart below.
Profile of:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Parents:
Sandra Cisneros
Other Family Members:
Description of Her Childhood and Childhood Interests:
Education:
Famous Books or Other Works:
Author Quotation:
244 Chapter 6
Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination

Build Independence Through Interactive Selections
Three Wise Guys
Sandra Cisneros ■ page 236
(Interactive Reading, pages 236–261)
■ Tell students that they are going to read “Three Wise Guys,”
another story by Sandra Cisneros. Encourage students to recall
what they liked about Cisneros’s story “Eleven.”
■ Have students read the Author Study and the Before You Read
notes. Tell students that in this story, three brothers bring the
Gonzales family a gift for Three Kings’ Day. Based on what they’ve
learned about this holiday, ask students to speculate about why
Cisneros gave the story this title.
■ Read the beginning of the story aloud, until the first “What and
Why?” note.
■ Find and identify for students one example of imagery in the paragraph.
Direct students to underline the example you identify. Have
students find and underline two additional examples on their own.
■ Model how you might respond to the second part of the note:
“The use of this imagery really helps me ‘hear,’ ‘smell,’ and ‘see’
what is happening. The images make the scene seem real.”
■ Have students read the rest of the story independently. Remind
them to note their responses to the sidenotes in their books.
■ After students have finished reading, divide the class into small
groups, and have them discuss their responses.
■ Bring the class back together, and direct students to the Fluency
note. Have several students read the fluency passage aloud.
■ Have students add the title of this story to their Personal Reading
Logs.
■ Use the Vocabulary Check on Teacher’s Edition page 80 to evaluate
mastery of the vocabulary standard.
■ Use the Comprehension Check on Teacher’s Edition page 81 to
evaluate mastery of the literary standard.
■ Have students complete the Author Profile on Interactive Reading
page 244 to learn more about Sandra Cisneros.
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
Three Wise Guys
■ Learners Having Difficulty
This selection contains some
Spanish words. Before students
read the selection independently,
ask those who are
conversant in Spanish to read
these Spanish words aloud
and define them for non-
Spanish speakers.
■ Benchmark Students The
selection vocabulary and some
of the other words used in the
text may pose problems for
benchmark students.
Encourage students to use the
Vocabulary Development and
Word Knowledge sidenotes as
they read.
■ Advanced Students Students
will enjoy guessing what is in
the box. Before they finish
reading the story, ask them to
fill out prediction cards, writing
their predictions on one
side and their reasons for
making the prediction on the
other. Have small groups
share and discuss their cards.
After they finish the story, students
can see if their predictions
were correct.
READING OPTION
All students will enjoy hearing
this selection read aloud on the
Audio CD before they read it
independently.
TEACHER TO TEACHER
Have students in small groups
discuss the questions the selection
raises. Ask the groups to
share personal stories about
presents with mysterious contents.
Then, have the groups
share their responses.
Chapter 6 75

Name ______________________________ Class _____________ Date _____________
Three Wise Guys
■ Interactive Reading, page 236
Reading Standard 1.5 Understand and explain “shades of
meaning” in related words.
80 Interactive Reading
obstructed, verb
distract, verb
simplicity, noun
Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary Check
A. Words in Context
Use words from the word box to complete the paragraph. Use each word only once.
I couldn’t see the box because it was (1) _______________ by Papa’s hulking
form in the doorway. “What do you want, bonita?” he said. I started to plead, “Let
me see! Let me see!” but he ignored my begging. Mama made breakfast, but the
(2) _______________ of the meal—the usual fried bread sprinkled with sugar—did
nothing to (3) _______________ me from the mystery of the box.
B. Words with Similar Meanings
Replace each boldface word with a vocabulary word that has a similar meaning. Then
write a sentence in which you use the vocabulary word correctly.
1. The large box blocked the view of the living room.
2. Like a game, the box had the ability to sidetrack the
children’s attention.
3. The family’s life has a certain plainness to it.
blocked
draw attention away from; sidetrack
absence of complexity; plainness
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Name ______________________________ Class _____________ Date _____________
Three Wise Guys
■ Interactive Reading, page 236
Reading Standard 3.7 Explain the effects of common literary
devices in a variety of fictional and nonfictional texts.
figurative language
imagery
symbol
Academic Vocabulary
Comprehension Check
word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of
something else and is not literally true
language that appeals to the senses
person, place, thing, or event that has its
own meaning and stands for something beyond itself
A. Circle the letter of the best response to each item below.
1. Which of the following is not an example of figurative language?
A sun tangled in the trees
B coughing and spitting up the night
C weeks stretched themselves wider and wider
D spread newspapers on the cot
2. Which of the following is an example of imagery?
F a lump of handbags and crumpled suit jackets
G troubles of the rich
H the house was filled with people
J no one said anything
3. Which of the following uses imagery to help us hear something?
A a bowl of grapes C mama’s wheezed breathing
B books stacked in squat pillars D a house that smelled of tamales
4. In this story the encyclopedia could be seen as a symbol of—
F books and pictures H money and luxury
G poverty and simplicity J learning and knowledge
B. Re-read the descriptions of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Write down the
sensory images (sound, taste, smell, sight, touch) that helped you imagine these
scenes.
Chapter 6 81

Chapter 6
Practice Read: Who Was Cleopatra?
Vocabulary Check, page 78
A: 1. feuds
2. deposed
3. ambitious
4. dynamic
5. jeered
B: 1. greedy
2. feuds
3. jeered
4. toppled
5. dynamic
Comprehension Check, page 79
A: 1. D
2. G
3. C
4. F
B: Students’ responses will vary. Examples:
Cleopatra was like a snake. Cleopatra was
a tiger.
Three Wise Guys
Vocabulary Check, page 80
A: 1. obstructed
2. simplicity
3. distract
B: 1. obstructed Example: Our access to the door
was obstructed by a mean-looking dog.
2. distract Example: The clown on the sidewalk
distracted all the passersby.
3. simplicity Example: The pattern of the
curtains had such a simplicity to it.
Comprehension Check, page 81
A: 1. D
2. F
3. C
4. J
B: The house smelled of tamales and tacos. [smell]
The living room was crowded with big-fannied
ladies and fat-stomached men sashaying to the
accordion music. [sight and sound] The children
fell asleep on a lump of handbags. [sight]
The Ancient Library of Alexandria
Vocabulary Check, page 82
A: 1. universal
2. deposited
3. stationary
B: 1. fragrance
2. odor
3. scrawny
4. slender
Comprehension Check, page 83
A: 1. A
2. J
3. B
B: He asserted that Earth was a sphere. He used
geometric calculations and measured the lengths
of shadows cast by sticks. He estimated that
Earth’s diameter was 7,850 miles.
from The Autobiography of a Kid
Vocabulary Check, page 84
A: 1. blithely
2. subscription
3. curriculum
B: 1. ridiculous
2. bland
3. liked
4. clever
Comprehension Check, page 85
A: 1. B
2. H
3. A
4. J
B: Students may choose: “And what about words,
which, packed together, made up a book as cells
made up my body? I liked them.” “Whether I
knew it or not, words were claiming me.” “That
[the word ‘bum ticker’] tickled me to no end.”
Answer Key 115

for use with
Holt Literature and Language Arts,
page 364
Eleven
Interact with a Literary Text
In Holt Literature and Language Arts, you read Sandra
Cisneros’s “Eleven,” about a girl named Rachel and her
awful experience in school on her eleventh birthday.
Although Rachel is a fictional character, she is similar to
Cisneros as a young girl. Like Rachel, Cisneros was shy and awkward
and sometimes had a hard time in school. Cisneros’s childhood
Imagery Grid Imagery is language that appeals to the senses.
Images describe sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and the way things feel
when you touch them. Writers use imagery to help us share an
experience. Fill in the imagery chart below with images that Sandra
Cisneros uses throughout “Eleven.” Then answer the questions.
Touch
Sight
experiences are very much a part of her writing.
I squeeze them shut tight and bite
down on my teeth real hard
the red sweater is . . . like a big red
mountain
In “Three Wise Guys,” you read about a family waiting for the day
they’ll get to open a mysterious present and what happens to them
once they discover what’s inside.
My face all hot
my body shaking like when you
it’s hanging over the edge like a
waterfall
have the hiccups
far away like a runaway balloon,
like a tiny-o in the sky
Did you ever receive a present you weren’t allowed to open right
away? Did you think about it all the time? So do the Gonzaleses,
the family in “Three Wise Guys.” As you read this story, try to
guess what the present is. Then, at the end of the story, think
about the effect of the present on each family member.
Sound Taste Smell
one sleeve of the
sweater that smells
rattling inside me like
pennies in a tin Band-
Reading
Standard 3.7
Explain the
effects of
common literary
devices (for
example,
symbolism,
imagery,
metaphor)
in a variety of
fictional and
nonfictional
texts.
like cottage cheese
Aid box
I can’t stop the little
Here’s what you need to know before you read this story:
• This story is based on the Spanish tradition of exchanging
gifts on Three Kings’ Day, January sixth.
• The story includes some Spanish words, which are defined
by the footnotes at the bottom of each page.
animal noises from
coming out of me
Questions
1. Which sense from the diagram had the most images?
sight and touch
Chapter 6
Pupil Pages 222–261
2. Which had the least?
taste
3. Which image from the story do you like the most? Why?
Answers will vary.
Pupil Pages with Answers 237
Sandra Cisneros 235
234 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination

• • • • • • Notes • • • • • •
But today the big box had arrived. When the boy
Ruben and the girl Rosalinda came home from school, it
was already sitting in the living room in front of the
television set that no longer worked. Who had put it there?
Where had it come from? A box covered with red paper
with green Christmas trees and a card on top that said
“Merry Christmas to the Gonzales Family. Frank, Earl, and
Dwight Travis. P.S. Do Not Open till Xmas.” That’s all.
Two times the mama was made to come into the living
room, first to explain to the children and later to their
father how the brothers Travis had arrived in the blue
pickup, and how it had taken all three of those big men to
lift the box off the back of the truck and bring it inside, and
how she had had to nod and say thank-you thank-you
thank-you over and over because those were the only words
she knew in English. Then the brothers Travis had nodded
as well, the way they always did when they came and
brought the boxes of clothes, or the turkey each November,
or the canned ham on Easter, ever since the children had
begun to earn high grades at the school where Dwight
Travis was the principal.
But this year the Christmas box was bigger than usual.
What could be in a box so big? The boy Ruben and the girl
Rosalinda begged all afternoon to be allowed to open it,
and that is when the mama had said the sixth of January,
the Day of the Three Kings. Not a day sooner.
It seemed the weeks stretched themselves wider and
wider since the arrival of the big box. The mama got used
to sweeping around it because it was too heavy for her to
push in a corner. But since the television no longer worked
ever since the afternoon the children had poured iced tea
through the little grates in the back, it really didn’t matter if
238 Interactive Reading: Teacher’s Edition
Sandra Cisneros
30
Why do the brothers bring
clothes and food on holidays?
What can you infer
about the family’s financial
status?
The big box came marked “Do Not Open till Xmas,” but
the mama said not until the Day of the Three Kings. Not
until Dia de los Reyes, the sixth of January, do you hear?
That is what the mama said exactly, only she said it all in
Spanish. Because in Mexico where she was raised, it is the
custom for boys and girls to receive their presents on
January sixth, and not Christmas, even though they were
living on the Texas side of the river1 now. Not until the
sixth day of January.
Yesterday the mama had risen in the dark same as
always to reheat the coffee in a tin saucepan and warm the
breakfast tortillas. 2 The papa had gotten up coughing and
spitting up the night, complaining how the evening before
the buzzing of the chicharras3 had kept him from sleeping.
By the time the mama had the house smelling of oatmeal
and cinnamon, the papa would be gone to the fields, the
sun already tangled in the trees and the urracas4 screeching
their rubber-screech cry. The boy Ruben and the girl
Rosalinda would have to be shaken awake for school. The
mama would give the baby Gilberto his bottle and then
she would go back to sleep before getting up again to the
chores that were always waiting. That is how the world
Actually, Dia de los Reyes
means “Day of the Kings.”
The kings were Magi, or
wise men.
10
Notice the superscript
numbers (the raised
numbers) next to Spanish
words. These numbers are
references to the footnotes
at the bottom of the pages.
Why are these footnotes
important in this story?
40
Many footnotes
The family is poor
explain what the
and the brothers are
Spanish words mean.
charitable.
20
Find and underline three
examples of imagery in this
paragraph. What does this
imagery add to the story?
Suggested response:
Some sentences within the
boxed passage are long.
Practice reading the passage
aloud, and pay special attention
to the long sentences.
Notice where the commas
are, and use them as a signal
to pause. Practice reading at
a rate that is not too fast
and not too slow.
50
The use of imagery
had been.
allows readers to hear,
6
Pupil Pages 222–261
1. river n.: Rio Grande, which separates Mexico and Texas.
2. tortillas (tôr •t≤√y¥s) n.: thin, flat cakes of cornmeal or flour.
3. chicharras (¬≤ •¬ä√räs) n.: cicadas, insects that make a loud, highpitched
sound.
4. urracas (º •rä√käs) n.: magpies, black and white birds belonging to the
crow family, known for their chattering.
smell, and see what is
happening in the story.
Chapter
“Three Wise Guys” by Sandra Cisneros. Copyright © 1990 by Sandra Cisneros. First published by Vista
Magazine, December 23, 1990. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Susan Bergholz Literary
Services, New York.
Sandra Cisneros 237
236 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination

eer, fanning himself with a magazine, and said in a voice
as much a plea as a prophecy: air conditioner.
What do you learn in lines
60–89 about each person
based on what he or she
hopes is inside the box?
But the boy Ruben and the girl Rosalinda were sure
the big box was filled with toys. They had even punctured it
Mama hopes for a
washing machine to
in one corner with a pencil when their mother was busy
cooking, but they could see nothing inside but blackness.
90
make chores easier.
Only the baby Gilberto remained uninterested in the
contents of the big box and seemed each day more fascinat-
The neighbor hopes
for a TV for an escape
ed with the exterior of the box rather that the interior. One
afternoon he tore off a fistful of paper, which he was
from reality. Papa
seems to want more
chewing when his mother swooped him up with one arm,
rushed him to the kitchen sink, and forced him to swallow
pleasure in his life
because he hopes for a
handfuls of lukewarm water in case the red dye of the
wrapping paper might be poisonous.
When Christmas Eve finally came, the family Gonzalez
100
record player, beer, or
an air conditioner. The
put on their good clothes and went to Midnight Mass. They
came home to a house that smelled of tamales and atole, 7
children dream of toys.
and everyone was allowed to open one present before going
to sleep. But the big box was to remain untouched until the
sixth of January.
On New Year’s Eve the house was filled with people,
some related, some not, coming in and out. The friends of
the papa came with bottles, and the mama set out a bowl of
grapes to count off the New Year. That night the children
did not sleep in the living-room cot as they usually did,
110
because the living room was crowded with big-fannied
ladies and fat-stomached men sashaying to the accordion
music of the midget twins from McAllen. 8 Instead the
children fell asleep on a lump of handbags and crumpled
the box obstructed the view. Visitors that came inside
the house were told and told again the story of how the
box had arrived, and then each was made to guess what
was inside.
It was the comadre5 Elodia who suggested over coffee
one afternoon that the big box held a portable washing
machine that could be rolled away when not in use, the
kind she had seen in her Sears Roebuck catalog. The mama
said she hoped so because the wringer washer she had used
for the last ten years had finally gotten tired and quit. These
past few weeks she had had to boil all the clothes in the big
pot she used for cooking the Christmas tamales. 6 Yes. She
hoped the big box was a portable washing machine. A
washing machine, even a portable one, would be good.
But the neighbor man Cayetano said, what foolishness,
comadre. Can’t you see the box is too small to hold a
washing machine, even a portable one. Most likely God
has heard your prayers and sent a new color TV. With a
good antenna you could catch all the Mexican soap operas,
the neighbor man said. You could distract yourself with the
complicated troubles of the rich and then give thanks to
God for the blessed simplicity of your poverty. A new TV
would surely be the end to all your miseries.
Each night when the papa came home from the fields,
he would spread newspapers on the cot in the living room,
where the boy Ruben and the girl Rosalinda slept, and sit
facing the big box in the center of the room. Each night he
imagined the box held something different. The day before
yesterday he guessed a new record player. Yesterday an ice
chest filled with beer. Today the papa sat with his bottle of
obstructed (¥b •struk√tid) v.:
blocked.
60
distract (di •strakt√) v.: draw
attention away from;
sidetrack.
simplicity (sim •plis√¥ •t≤) n.:
absence of complexity;
plainness.
Replace the word simplicity
with the word plainness in
the sentence. Is the sentence
as effective? Why or why
not?
Answers will vary, but
should indicate that
70
the sentence is clearer
and more effective
when the word
simplicity is used.
80
Chapter 6
Pupil Pages 222–261
Underline the images in lines
100–116 that help you imagine
what the house was like
on the holidays.
suit jackets on top of the mama and the papa’s bed,
dreaming of the contents of the big box.
7. atole (ä •t£√l†) n.: broth made from corn flour.
8. McAllen: Texas city near the Mexican border.
5. comadre (ko •mä√dr†) n.: woman who is a relative or close friend of
the family (the “co-mother”).
6. tamales (t¥ •mä√l≤z) n.: meat and peppers cooked in a corn husk.
Pupil Pages with Answers 239
Sandra Cisneros 239
238 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination

What does each person do
with the gift? See lines
156–177.
Mama puts one
240 Interactive Reading: Teacher’s Edition
volume on Rosalinda’s
chair and one under
the plant stand to
steady it. Mama later
piles the books up and
makes a table. The
baby chews on them.
Rosalinda colors all the
pictures and cuts out
others. Papa uses one
as a hat in the rain.
The plant stand in line 160
is personified—that is, it is
spoken of as if it were
human. What is the plant
stand doing that only
humans can do?
hair was going to be cut again. The boy Ruben pulled out
Volume IV, Ded–Fem. There were many pictures and many
words, but there were more words than pictures. The papa
flipped through Volume XXII, but because he could not
read English words, simply put the book back and grunted,
What can we do with this? No one said anything, and
shortly after, the screen door slammed.
Only mama knew what to do with the contents of the
big box. She withdrew Volumes VI, VII, and VIII, marched
off to the dinette set in the kitchen, placed two on
Rosalinda’s chair so she could better reach the table, and
put one underneath the plant stand that danced.
When the boy and girl returned from school that
day, they found the books stacked into squat pillars against
one living-room wall and a board placed on top. On this
were arranged several plastic doilies and framed family
photographs. The rest of the volumes the baby Gilberto
was playing with, and he was already rubbing his sore gums
along the corners of Volume XIV.
The girl Rosalinda also grew interested in the books.
She took out her colored pencils and painted blue on the
eyelids of all the illustrations of women and with a red
pencil dipped in spit she painted their lips and fingernails
red-red. After a couple of days, when all the pictures of
women had been colored in this manner, she began to cut
out some of the prettier pictures and paste them on looseleaf
paper.
One volume suffered from being exposed to the rain
when the papa improvised a hat during a sudden shower.
He forgot it on the hood of the car when he drove off.
When the children came home from school they set it on
150
Finally, the fifth of January. And the boy Ruben and
the girl Rosalinda could hardly sleep. All night they
whispered last-minute wishes. The boy thought perhaps if
the big box held a bicycle, he would be the first to ride it,
120
Soon the box will be opened.
Make a prediction about
what you think is inside.
Then read on and see if
your prediction is right.
since he was the oldest. This made his sister cry until the
mama had to yell from her bedroom on the other side of
Predictions will vary.
the plastic curtains, Be quiet or I’m going to give you each
the stick, which sounds worse in Spanish than it does in
English. Then no one said anything. After a very long time,
long after they heard the mama’s wheezed breathing and
160
the papa’s piped snoring, the children closed their eyes and
remembered nothing.
The papa was already in the bathroom coughing up
the night before from his throat when the urracas began
130
their clownish chirping. The boy Ruben awoke and shook
his sister. The mama, frying the potatoes and beans for
breakfast, nodded permission for the box to be opened.
With a kitchen knife the boy Ruben cut a careful edge
along the top. The girl Rosalinda tore the Christmas
wrapping with her fingernails. The papa and the mama
170
lifted the cardboard flaps and everyone peered inside to
see what it was the brothers Travis had brought them on
“Coughing up the night
before” in lines 129–130 is
not literally true. What does
this figure of speech mean?
Papa could be
the Day of the Three Kings.
There were layers of balled newspaper packed on top.
coughing because he
140
It is dancing.
When these had been cleared away the boy Ruben looked
inside. The girl Rosalinda looked inside. The papa and the
smoked or drank too
much the night before.
mama looked.
This is what they saw: the complete Britannica Junior
Chapter 6
Pupil Pages 222–261
Encyclopaedia, twenty-four volumes in red imitation
leather with gold-embossed letters, beginning with
Volume 1, Aar–Bel and ending with Volume XXIV,
Yel–Zyn. The girl Rosalinda let out a sad cry, as if her
Sandra Cisneros 241
240 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination

Symbolism A symbol is a thing that represents something besides
itself. What do you think the encyclopedias are symbolic of? Write
your answer in two or three sentences.
The encyclopedias symbolize knowledge or discovery.
Personal Word List You probably came across some new words in
this story. They may have been Spanish words or English words you
were unfamiliar with. Choose five words, and add them to your
Personal Word List. Write an English word that means the same thing
as each Spanish word.
Personal Reading Log Did you enjoy this story? Explain why or why
not in your Personal Reading Log. Give yourself 4 points on the
Reading Meter for completing it.
Checklist for Standards Mastery You’ve finished reading and
responding to another selection. Use the Checklist for Standards
Mastery to determine how far you’ve come in mastering the standards.
the porch to dry. But the pages puffed up and became so
fat, the book was impossible to close.
Only the boy Ruben refused to touch the books. For
several days he avoided the principal because he didn’t
know what to say in case Mr. Travis were to ask how they
were enjoying the Christmas present.
On the Saturday after New Year’s the mama and the
papa went into town for groceries and left the boy in
charge of watching his sister and baby brother. The girl
Rosalinda was stacking books into spiral staircases and
making her paper dolls descend them in a fancy manner.
Perhaps the boy Ruben would not have bothered to
open the volume left on the kitchen table if he had not seen
his mother wedge her name-day corsage9 in its pages. On
the page where the mama’s carnation lay pressed between
two pieces of Kleenex was a picture of a dog in a space ship.
“First dog in space” the caption said. The boy turned to
another page and read where cashews came from. And then
about the man who invented the guillotine. And then about
Bengal tigers. And about clouds. All afternoon the boy read,
even after the mama and the papa came home. Even after
the sun set, until the mama said time to sleep and put the
light out.
In their bed on the other side of the plastic curtain the
mama and the papa slept. Across from them in the crib
slept the baby Gilberto. The girl Rosalinda slept on her end
of the cot. But the boy Ruben watched the night sky turn
from violet. To blue. To gray. And then from gray. To blue.
180
Pause at line 202. What
discovery has Ruben made?
Ruben has discovered
the joys of learning
about the world.
190
What could the colors in
the final lines of the story
symbolize?
Suggested response:
The colors could
symbolize a whole
new world for Ruben,
as if he is coming from
darkness into the light
of learning.
200
What do you think the story’s
title means? Could it have
more than one meaning?
Literally it refers to the
Magi. It also refers to
the three Travis broth-
Chapter 6
Pupil Pages 222–261
To violet once again.
ers who brought the
children the gift of
knowledge.
9. name-day corsage (kôr •sä¤√) n.: flower or a bunch of flowers that are
worn to celebrate the feast day of the saint for whom a person is
named.
Pupil Pages with Answers 241
Sandra Cisneros 243
242 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination

Three Wise Guys Interactive Reading, page 236
Go Beyond a Literary Text
How did the first library begin? What was it like? Why were some
people determined to get rid of it? Find out the answers to these
questions as you read all about the ancient library of Alexandria,
how it came to be, and how it was eventually destroyed.
Author Profile Use your library and the Internet to find out
more about Sandra Cisneros. As you find information, enter it
on the author-profile chart below. Sample entries provided.
Here’s what you need to know before you begin reading:
• Ancient books were written on papyrus and rolled into scrolls.
• The library of Alexandria, in Egypt, was the first universal library.
This means that it was the first library where scrolls from different
countries were collected.
• The library was not only a place to read. It was also a great center
where people came to do research, debate, discuss, study, teach,
and share ideas. In many ways the library was like an educational
resort, because people who came from distant lands lived and ate
at the library.
Sandra Cisneros
Profile of:
Date of Birth: December 20, 1954
Place of Birth: Chicago
Parents:
Mexican father and Chicana (Mexican-American) mother
Other Family Members:
seven brothers, no sisters
Her family often moved
Description of Her Childhood and Childhood Interests:
back and forth between Mexico (where her paternal grandmother lived
242 Interactive Reading: Teacher’s Edition
Reading
Standard 2.7
Make
reasonable
assertions about
a text through
accurate
supporting
citations.
and her father grew up) and the United States. She felt homeless and
displaced. She read a lot and found comfort in books.
Education: Loyola University and University of Iowa
Famous Books or Other Works: The House on Mango Street; Woman
Hollering Creek and Other Stories; My Wicked, Wicked Ways (poems)
Quotations will vary.
Author Quotation:
Anne Nolting
Underline inquisitive
(in •kwiz√¥ •tiv) in line 3. What
words in this first paragraph
help you guess what it
means? Circle the clues.
About 2,300 years ago, a great king ruled the country
of Egypt. His name was Ptolemy I Soter, and he was a
wise and inquisitive monarch with a deep longing for
knowledge. His wish was for Egypt to become the most
Chapter 6
Pupil Pages 222–261
powerful nation in the world.
Inquisitive means “eager to
learn.”
“The Ancient Library of Alexandria” by Anne Nolting from Cricket, May 2000. Copyright © 2000 by
Anne Nolting. Reprinted by permission of the author.
The Ancient Library of Alexandria 245
244 Chapter 6 Looking at Texts: Uses of the Imagination