A loose adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s Summer of the Mariposas (2012) follows five Mexican American sisters on an epic journey from Texas to Mexico. Drawing deeply from Mexican folklore, the book’s genre blends magical realism and fantasy. The book was a 2013 Andre Norton Award Nominee, won the Westchester Fiction Award, and made the list of 2012 School Library Journal Best Books. Guadalupe Garcia McCall was born in Piedras Negras in Coahuila, Mexico, before immigrating to Eagle Pass, Texas, with her family when she was six.

This study guide references the 2012 paperback edition published by Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books.

Plot Summary

The Garza sisters embark on a quest to find their free-wheeling father but end up rekindling sisterhood, solidarity, and self-love instead. The book opens with the recovery of a dead body on the banks of the Rio Grande. The five Garza sisters have been enjoying a summer of hedonism, doing exactly what they wanted when they wanted, while their mother works at a diner. With their father now gone, the girls’ lives lack structure. The same summer, butterflies descend on the area in huge numbers. Though their mother instructed them to stay home and play the card game Lotería, they go hiking and swimming by the Rio Grande.

However, their favorite summer swimming hole is spoiled by the sudden appearance of a male corpse. Juanita, the second oldest of the five girls, searches the body, finding hundreds of dollars in cash and a driver’s license with a Mexican address. She notes that the address is near their estranged paternal grandmother’s house. Middle twin sisters Delia and Velia and youngest sister Pita jump at Juanita’s proposal to deliver the body to the dead man’s family and visit their grandmother in the process, hoping to learn where their father is. Though eldest sister Odilia dismisses the idea, she acknowledges Juanita’s point: If they notify the authorities, then the area will immediately be swept for other border-crossers. To quell her sisters’ enthusiasm for the Mexico journey, Odilia evokes her veto power.

Later that night, the four younger sisters defy Odilia’s orders to stay home by stealing their father’s beat-up car and beginning their pilgrimage across the border. At the last minute, to protect them, Odilia joins. Juanita exerts power over her older sister by refusing to let her drive.

During a pit stop, Odilia sees two boys running toward the Rio Grande, their frantic mother in tow. Odilia unthinkingly follows the boys to ensure they don’t fall into the river. When they do fall, Odilia jumps in after them. After risking her own life, she is unable to save them. The mother thanks her for her efforts. Sitting by the riverbank with the mother, Odilia realizes that she is the legendary ghost of La Llorona, who is said to have drowned her own children in the Rio Grande and then wandered the earth looking for them. La Llorona clarifies that this legend is not true, that she did not murder her children but does feel responsible for their deaths. She warns that Odilia and her sisters must deliver the dead man’s body and visit their Abuelita Remedios to reunite their family. She gives Odilia an ancient ear pendant from the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, also known as La Virgen de la Cueva.

After a precarious border crossing, the Garza sisters eventually arrive in the dead man’s hometown. They learn that his name is Gabriel Pérdido and quickly gather that he will not be welcomed back warmly. At Gabriel’s house, a quinceañera, a rite of passage for 15-year-old girls on the verge of becoming women, is in full swing. Before the sisters can leave, they are spotted by Gabriel’s adult son, who invites them in. Upon seeing his father in the back seat, he opens the car door in anger. Out tumbles the corpse. Gabriel’s abandoned widow, Inés, thanks the girls for bringing the body back. She invites them to spend the night, and the girls agree.

While Odilia is picking up something for Inés at the corner store the next morning, she spots a newspaper headline detailing her and her sisters’ disappearance. The Garza sisters leave Inés’s house in a hurry only for their car to break down. Amid their distress, a charming woman called Cecilia invites them to her even more charming house, where she feeds them sweets. However, with the help of La Llorona, Odilia soon discovers that Cecilia is a witch who has been drugging them so they will stay under her care. Cecilia’s luxurious house, as well as her youth and charm, are all a fantasy, and she is a lonely witch. Odilia uses Tonantzin’s charm to hypnotize and escape Cecilia, who in turn evokes evil spirits—a warlock, a pack of half-human owls, and a demon—to thwart the girls’ journey.

With the help of their ancestors, their grandmother, and each other, the sisters safely return to their worried mother. Yet upon returning home, they find that their father has returned with a second family and mistress in tow. While the girls greet him warmly at first, they soon sour at his blatant disregard of their mother and his plan to move back in with his mistress and stepdaughters. Taking Odilia’s lead, the rest of the Garza sisters and their mother kick their father and his second family out for good.

At Tonantzin’s behest, Odilia aids in La Llorona’s transformation from a ghost to an Aztec princess and celestial being reunited with her children. Odilia realizes that part of her and her sisters’ mission was bringing new life into the universe. Odilia’s mother earns her GED, gets a better job, and begins a new relationship. Odilia’s father appears on her 16th birthday and apologizes for his behavior. Odilia forgives him but turns him away, realizing that her family has transformed. She is certain that they are now committed to supporting each other no matter what.