by Sandra Cisneros
Cumpleaños de Lala y Tudi (Lala and Tudi’s Birthday Party) by Carmen Lomas Garza.
Oil on canvas. 36" x 48".
What can you learn about
someone’s character from
how he or she acts in an
244 Unit 1 • Collection 3
What is your deﬁnition of an “embarrassing moment”?
Describe a situation at school that might embarrass a
student your age.
SKILLS FOCUS Literary Skills Understand
characterization. Reading Skills Make inferences.
Use your RWN to complete the
activities for this selection.
Characterization The way a writer reveals a character’s personality is called characterization. A writer may directly tell you that a
character is shy or sad or may make it obvious by revealing a character’s shy actions or sad thoughts. As you read “Eleven,” notice how
Rachel’s character is revealed through her actions and thoughts.
Making Inferences Writers seldom explain everything. You
must ﬁgure out some things by making inferences: combining
clues in the text with what you know to make an educated guess.
Making inferences helps you uncover the story’s full meaning.
rattling (RAT lihng) v. used as adj: shaking and
hitting together. Rachel felt all the years of her
life rattling inside her like coins in a metal box.
raggedy (RAG uh dee) adj.: torn and in bad
condition. The sweater was worn and
itchy (IHCH ee) adj.: causing a feeling on
the skin that makes you want to rub or
scratch. The red sweater was made of an
itchy, uncomfortable material.
invisible (ihn VIHZ uh buhl) adj.: not able to
be seen. Rachel wished that she could be
invisible and disappear.
Into Action Use a chart like this one to make at least two inferences about characters and events in “Eleven.” An example is provided for you. Add rows to make inferences based on other details.
It Says . . .
I Say . . .
(what you know)
And So . . .
It’s Rachel’s Birthdays are usually
Rachel must be excited
happy days that people about her birthday.
look forward to.
TechFocus As you read, imagine how Rachel would tell her story
in a video diary. What would she say? How would she say it?
Figurative Language In “Eleven,”
Rachel uses many interesting and vivid
comparisons to describe how she feels on
her birthday. When she says that growing
older is “like an onion or like the rings
inside a tree,” she is using similes, a kind
of ﬁgurative language. A simile is a comparison of unlike things that uses a word
such as like, as, than, or resembles. Which
of the Vocabulary example sentences
above contains a simile?
Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading Cisneros creates word pictures that
appeal to the senses: “My face all hot and spit coming out of my
mouth because I can’t stop the little animal noises coming out of
me.” This image connects to sight, touch, and hearing. List other
sensory details from this story in your Reader/Writer Notebook.
Learn It Online
Strengthen your vocabulary with Word Watch at:
Preparing to Read 245
Learn It Online
Get more on the author’s life at:
MEET THE WRITER
Writing from Experience
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, where she grew up
speaking both Spanish and English. Although she sometimes
had a hard time in school, she eventually became a teacher
and a highly acclaimed writer. Today she lives in San Antonio,
Texas. Her childhood experiences, her family, and her Mexican
American heritage all find a place in her writing.
“Inside I’m Eleven”
In much of her writing, Cisneros explores the feeling of being
shy and out-of-place. In this quotation, she describes what she
sees when she looks back on her childhood:
“When I think how I see myself, I would have to
say at age eleven. I know I’m older on the outside, but inside I’m eleven. I’m the girl in the
picture with the skinny arms and a crumpled
shirt and crooked hair. I didn’t like school
because all they saw was the outside of me.”
What details convince
you that Cisneros really
does remember what
being eleven is like?
246 Unit 1 • Collection 3
Preview the Selection
On the day this story takes place,
Rachel, the story’s main character and
narrator, is turning eleven years old.
Rachel’s birthday is complicated by a
difficult circumstance at school.
Read with a Purpose Read this story to discover how a misunderstanding
at school affects the eleventh birthday of a girl named Rachel.
by Sandra Cisneros
hat they don’t understand about
birthdays and what they never
tell you is that when you’re
eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight,
and seven, and six, and five, and four, and
three, and two, and one. And when you
wake up on your eleventh birthday you
expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. You
open your eyes and everything’s just like
yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel
eleven at all. You feel like you’re still ten.
And you are—underneath the year that
makes you eleven.
Like some days you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s
still ten. Or maybe some days you might
need to sit on your mama’s lap because
you’re scared, and that’s the part of you
that’s five. And maybe one day when you’re
all grown up maybe you will need to cry like
if you’re three, and that’s okay. That’s what I
tell Mama when she’s sad and needs to cry.
Maybe she’s feeling three.
Because the way you grow old is kind
of like an onion or like the rings inside a
tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls
that fit one inside the other, each year
inside the next one. That’s how being
eleven years old is.
You don’t feel eleven. Not right away.
It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes
even months before you say Eleven when
they ask you. And you don’t feel smart
eleven, not until you’re almost twelve. That’s
the way it is.
Only today I wish I didn’t have only
eleven years rattling inside me like
pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. Today I
wish I was one hundred and two instead
of eleven because if I was one hundred
and two I’ d have known what to say when
Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk.
I would’ve known how to tell her it wasn’t
mine instead of just sitting there with that
look on my face and nothing coming out of
A Literary Focus Characterization What do you learn
about the narrator’s personality from the thoughts and feelings she
shares in this paragraph?
C Read and Discuss Why does the narrator wish she were 102
B Read and Discuss The author has given us a lot of
Vocabulary rattling (RAT lihng) v.: shaking and hitting
information about what it means to be eleven. What point is she
trying to make?
“Whose is this?” Mrs. Price says, and she
like the part of me that’s three wants to come
holds the red sweater up in the air for all the
out of my eyes, only I squeeze them shut tight
class to see. “Whose? It’s been sitting in the
and bite down on my teeth real hard and try
coatroom for a month.”
to remember today I am eleven, eleven. Mama
“Not mine,” says everybody. “Not me.”
is making a cake for me for tonight, and when
“It has to belong to somebody,” Mrs. Price
Papa comes home everybody will sing Happy
keeps saying, but nobody can remember. It’s
birthday, happy birthday to you.
But when the sick feeling goes away and
an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and
I open my eyes, the red sweater’s still sitting
a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you
there like a big red mountain. I move the red
could use it for a jump-rope. It’s maybe a
sweater to the corner of my desk with my
thousand years old and even if it belonged to
ruler. I move my pencil and books and eraser
me I wouldn’t say so.
as far from it as possible. I
Maybe because I’m
even move my chair a little
skinny, maybe because she
But when the
to the right. Not mine, not
doesn’t like me, that stupid
mine, not mine.
Sylvia Saldívar says, “I think
sick feeling goes
In my head I’m thinkit belongs to Rachel.” An ugly
away and I open
ing how long till lunchtime,
sweater like that, all
my eyes, the
how long till I can take the
raggedy and old, but Mrs.
red sweater and throw it
Price believes her. Mrs. Price
red sweater’s still
over the schoolyard fence, or
takes the sweater and puts it
sitting there like a
leave it hanging on a parkright on my desk, but when
big red mountain.
ing meter, or bunch it up
I open my mouth nothing
into a little ball and toss it in
“That’s not, I don’t, you’re
the alley. Except when math
not . . . Not mine,” I finally say in a little voice
period ends Mrs. Price says loud and in front
that was maybe me when I was four.
of everybody, “Now, Rachel, that’s enough,”
“Of course it’s yours,” Mrs. Price says. “I
because she sees I’ve shoved the red sweater
remember you wearing it once.” Because she’s
to the tippy-tip corner of my desk and it’s
older and the teacher, she’s right and I’m not.
hanging all over the edge like a waterfall,
Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs.
but I don’t care.
Price is already turning to page thirty-two,
“Rachel,” Mrs. Price says. She says it like
and math problem number four. I don’t know
she’s getting mad. “You put that sweater on
why but all of a sudden I’m feeling sick inside,
right now and no more nonsense.”
D Reading Focus Making Inferences What details in the
F Read and Discuss How do Rachel’s thoughts here support
story suggest why Rachel feels so strongly about the sweater?
the inference you made about her strong feelings?
E Literary Focus Characterization What do the narra-
Vocabulary raggedy (RAG uh dee) adj.: torn and in bad
tor’s self-description and speech in this and the previous paragraph
tell you about her personality?
248 Unit 1 • Collection 3
Portrait of a Girl by Rosa Ibarra.
Viewing and Interpreting What characteristics
does this girl seem to share with Rachel?
“But it’s not—”
“Now!” Mrs. Price says.
This is when I wish I wasn’t eleven,
because all the years inside of me—ten,
nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three,
two, and one—are pushing at the back
of my eyes when I put one arm through
one sleeve of the sweater that smells like
cottage cheese, and then the other arm
through the other and stand there with
my arms apart like if the sweater hurts me
and it does, all itchy and full of germs that
aren’t even mine.
That’s when everything I’ve been holding in since this morning, since when Mrs.
Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets
go, and all of a sudden I’m crying in front of
everybody. I wish I was invisible but I’m not.
I’m eleven and it’s my birthday today and I’m
crying like I’m three in front of everybody. I
put my head down on the desk and bury my
face in my stupid clown-sweater arms. My
face all hot and spit coming out of my mouth
because I can’t stop the little animal noises
from coming out of me, until there aren’t any
more tears left in my eyes, and it’s just my
body shaking like when you have the hiccups and my whole head hurts like when you
drink milk too fast.
But the worst part is right before the bell
rings for lunch. That stupid Phyllis Lopez,
who is even dumber than Sylvia Saldívar,
says she remembers the red sweater is hers!
I take it off right away and give it to her, only
Mrs. Price pretends like everything’s okay. G
Today I’m eleven. There’s a cake Mama’s
making for tonight, and when Papa comes
home from work we’ll eat it. There’ll be
candles and presents and everybody will
sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you,
Rachel, only it’s too late.
I’m eleven today. I’m eleven, ten, nine,
eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and
one, but I wish I was one hundred and two.
I wish I was anything but eleven, because I
want today to be far away already, far away
like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the
sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your
eyes to see it.
G Read and Discuss How does this situation connect with the
I Read and Discuss How has this birthday ended up for
inference you made about Rachel’s feelings?
H Reading Focus Making Inferences What does Rachel
Vocabulary itchy (IHCH ee) adj.: causing a feeling on the
skin that makes you want to rub or scratch.
invisible (ihn VIHZ uh buhl) adj.: not able to be seen.
mean by “it’s too late”? Make an inference from clues in the story
and your thoughts about how you might feel in a similar situation.
250 Unit 1 • Collection 3
SKILLS FOCUS Literary Skills Analyze characterization;
analyze character and conﬂict. Reading Skills Make
inferences. Writing Skills Write to describe.
Respond and Think Critically
1. What does Mrs. Price put on Rachel’s desk?
2. What mistake has Mrs. Price made?
Read with a Purpose
3. What happens to Rachel that upsets her so
much in class? How does this event aﬀect her
feelings about her eleventh birthday?
6. Infer/Connect What assumptions does Mrs.
Price seem to make about Rachel? Why didn’t
Rachel just refuse to put on the sweater? If
you were Rachel, what would you have done?
7. Make Judgments Explain whether you think
Rachel makes her situation worse by how she
acts over the sweater.
8. Analyze/Infer At the end of the story, Rachel
says that “everybody will sing Happy birthday,
. . . only it’s too late.” What is “too late”? What
can you infer about Rachel and about how
the situation has aﬀected her?
Reading Skills: Making Inferences
4. How do you think Rachel gets along with the
other students? How does she feel about herself? Use the It Says/I Say/And So strategy to
make inferences about both questions. (Look
for other details to add under “It Says.”)
It Says . . .
In the story
I Say . . .
And So . . .
Literary Skills: Characterization
9. Analyze What character traits does Rachel
have? What methods of characterization does
the author use to show these traits?
Literary Skills Review: Conﬂict
10. Analyze Think about Rachel’s struggle in this
story. What is the external conﬂict for Rachel?
In what way is this also an internal conﬂict?
Think as a Reader/Writer
Use It in Your Writing Using vivid sensory
details, as Cisneros does, write a paragraph
describing an imaginary embarrassing situation at
school. Use your QuickWrite notes for ideas.
5. Interpret By the end of the story, Rachel is
wishing she were 102—or anything but 11.
What point is the author making about age?
What does this have to do with the story?
Did Rachel do “the right thing”
in an embarrassing situation?
Did anyone? What could each
character have done diﬀerently?
Applying Your Skills 251
Vocabulary Skills: Connotations
A word’s connotations are the feelings and ideas
that we associate, or connect, with the word.
For example, Rachel calls the red sweater “ugly.”
Someone who didn’t hate the sweater might just
say it was “plain” or “unattractive.” Ugly is a strong
word that has very negative connotations.
Think about raggedy, another
word that Rachel uses to describe
the sweater. Here are some words
that mean more or less the same
thing as raggedy.
• worn out
None of the words has a truly positive connotation when applied to a sweater, but some of the
words are more negative than others. Put the
words in order, starting with the one whose connotations seem the least negative and ending
with the one whose connotations seem the most
negative. Include raggedy in the list.
For each remaining Vocabulary word (rattling,
itchy, invisible), identify three or four synonyms—
words with a similar meaning. Then, list the
words in order of their connotations, from least
negative to most negative. Use a thesaurus or a
dictionary to help you ﬁnd synonyms for each
252 Unit 1 • Collection 3
Figurative Language Read this simile
“But when the sick feeling goes
away and I open my eyes, the red
sweater’s still sitting there like a
big red mountain.”
Remember that a simile is a comparison
of unlike things that uses a comparing
word such as like, as, than, or resembles.
A metaphor is another example of ﬁgurative language, but unlike a simile, it
compares unlike things without using
any comparison words. A metaphor says
that something is something else: The
ugly red sweater is a mountain, casting
its shadow of disappointment over my
birthday. Come up with four of your own
ﬁgurative descriptions of the sweater
in “Eleven.” Write two of them as similes
and two as metaphors.
Talk About . . .
With a partner, discuss the circumstance that makes Rachel feel like
her birthday is ruined. What makes it
obvious that Mrs. Price has a particular
view of Rachel? Use the underlined
Academic Vocabulary words in
SKILLS FOCUS Literary Skills Analyze characterization.
Vocabulary Skills Identify and understand connotative and
ﬁgurative use of language. Writing Skills Write narratives;
write to describe; develop a character using description.
Grammar Skills Identify and use adjective phrases correctly.
Adjective Phrases: Adding Word Power
Just as one person working alone can accomplish
only so much, one word working alone has its limitations. The adjective large can tell you that a cat
is big, but what does large really mean? Adjectives
like large or small don’t pack a lot of power. They
don’t tell you how large or how small something is,
or what it looks like. That’s why we need adjective
phrases. An adjective phrase is a group of words
that, like an adjective, describes (or modiﬁes) a
noun or a pronoun. Adjective phrases add power
to descriptions by answering questions like these.
An adjective phrase can tell you much more about
the “large” cat:
a large cat with a ﬂuﬀy striped tail as
long as my arm
Use your imagination, and add more details to
the nouns below by joining an adjective phrase to
each of the adjectives in italics.
1. lonely dog
3. broken chair
2. hungry shark
4. tall tree
Writing Application Go back
to the work you did for the Writing
Focus on page 251 and add
adjective phrases to make your
description of an embarrassing
moment even more vivid.
As you respond to the Choices, use these Academic Vocabulary
words as appropriate: adapt, circumstance, gender, obvious.
Write a Character Sketch
Partner Work With a partner, discuss how
Cisneros reveals Rachel’s personality. Consider
obvious clues such as Rachel’s physical appearance, words, actions, and thoughts. Also consider how the story’s other characters respond
to her. Use these details and your own ideas to
make an inference about Rachel. Then, each
of you should write your own short character
sketch of Rachel. Compare your sketch with the
one your partner wrote. Did you agree in your
views of Rachel? If not, what were your points of
diﬀerence, and why?
Describe a Birthday
What’s your idea of a memorable birthday? Based on your own experiences or
just on your imagination, describe your idea of the
best, worst, most unusual, or funniest birthday. Use
speciﬁc details as you describe this birthday.
Create a Video Diary
TechFocus Work with a partner to adapt this
story as an entry in Rachel’s video diary. Write
a script, and ﬁlm the diary entry in one take. Be
sure to capture Rachel’s personality and voice.
Learn It Online
Describe a birthday through a digital story. Find out
Applying Your Skills 253