The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition

Mago Grande is Reyna, Carlos, and Betty’s older sister. She is Mami and Papi’s first child. Unlike Reyna and Carlos, Mago has memories of her father before he left Mexico to work in the United States. Therefore, she remains attached to him throughout his absence from Iguala and often tells her siblings stories about him that they can’t remember. She holds on to the dream of his return, imagining the day he’ll come back and build the family the dream house he promised them.

Mago acts as a stand-in mother for Reyna and Carlos throughout their childhoods. She assumes this role because her mother and father are always coming and going. Even when Mami and Papi aren’t absent, they often disappoint the siblings. Mago does her best to stay strong for Mago and Carlos. Reyna believes that Mago keeps herself from crying even when she’s sad because “Mami had asked [her] to be [their] little mother” (7). Reyna relies on Mago because she respects and trusts her. Mago often tells Reyna and Carlos stories to comfort them. She also defends them when their grandmother, cousin, or the neighborhood children tease and make fun of them. Then, when Papi returns and says he’ll take Mago with him to the States, Mago refuses to go unless he takes both of her siblings, too.

Like Reyna, Mago also changes over the course of the memoir. During her first years in the States, she tries her best to make Papi happy and proud. In school, she is “a wonderful student,” with her teachers calling her “one of [the] best and brightest” in her class (219). Over time, however, Mago stops trying as hard to achieve in school. She stops caring what Papi thinks and starts making decisions that she wants to make. She completes high school, but doesn’t end up going to college. Instead, she gets a job and starts a family.

Although she and Reyna have different paths, they remain close. Mago never abandons Reyna and stays by her side even after she moves out of Papi and Mila’s apartment. Reyna continues to see her as her best friend throughout their adulthoods. Indeed, Reyna attributes much of her success and survival to her older sister.

Carlos Grande is Mami and Papi’s second child and only son. He is Reyna’s older brother and Mago’s younger brother. Like his sisters, Carlos struggles after his parents leave Mexico to live and work in the United States. He often wets the bed because he’s sad, lonely, and confused. His sisters don’t tease him for this and do their best to try to help and comfort him.

Like Reyna and Mago, Carlos also longs for his family to be together. However, he too must learn that his parents aren’t always capable of loving him the way that he wishes they could. He has a particularly difficult relationship with Papi, who becomes even harder on him after the family relocates to Los Angeles in Part 2. When Carlos is old enough, he moves out of Papi and Mila’s apartment to create a life for himself. In the meantime, he maintains his relationships with his sisters, as Reyna and Mago have always been his closest family.

Natalio Grande is Reyna, Mago, Carlos, and Betty’s father. At the start of the memoir, Natalio is married to the siblings’ mother, Juana. As the memoir is written from Reyna’s point of view, she primarily refers to him as “Papi.” When Reyna is two years old, Papi moves to the United States to make money to build the house that he dreams of for his family. Two years later, he calls Mami and asks her to join him in the States.

Since Reyna is so little at this time, she has no memories of her father. She only knows him by the framed photograph she keeps of him. Throughout her childhood, she dreams of the day when Papi will return to Mexico and help them create the family life they have all longed for. However, when she finally does meet Papi, he’s different than she imagined. She feels terrified of disappointing him, because he almost doesn’t take her to the United States with him and her siblings. Throughout her time in Los Angeles, she constantly strives to make Papi happy, desperate to prove that she is worthy of his love and attention.

Papi has a dependency on alcohol and is often angry and violent when he’s drinking. Throughout Reyna’s childhood, she realizes that Papi has different sides to him. Sometimes he likes to talk about all of his dreams for the future. Other times, he is depressed and isolates himself. Reyna tries to be close with him, but often feels that Papi doesn’t really see her or care about her. This complicated dynamic influences the way that she sees herself for many years.

Ultimately, Reyna’s relationship with her father fractures when Papi cuts her and her siblings out of his life to get back with Mila. Despite all of the hurt he causes her, Reyna does go to see him on his deathbed in 2011, at which time she realizes how much he influenced the person she has become.