Gods of Jade and Shadow

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

Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. Who is Martín?

2. What is a cenote?

3. Who is Cirilo Leyva?

4. Who does Casiopea meet while her family is gone?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Martín tell Casiopea to shine his shoes?

2. Why does Casiopea’s mother want her to keep up with her education?

3. Why is the family taking a trip to the cenote?

Paired Resource

“The Best Cenotes in Yucatan”

• Though this resource is a travel guide, it does provide some stunning pictures of cenotes in the Yucatan, which might help students visualize where the family is traveling in Chapter 2.
• This resource pairs with the theme of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination.
• Seeing these images of cenotes, what about them might lead people to believe that they are magical places?

Chapters 3-5

Reading Check

1. Where do Casiopea and Hun-Kamé go first?

2. Who is Loray?

3. Who hears Casiopea utter his name?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Martín treat Casiopea the way he does?

2. What surprises Casiopea about Loray?

3. How does Vucub-Kamé discover that his brother, Hun-Kamé, has escaped the chest?

Paired Resource

“Interview: Silvia Moreno-Garcia”

• This interview with Silvia Moreno-Garcia from Lightspeed Magazine includes Moreno-Garcia’s thoughts on writing, her inspiration for Gods of Jade and Shadow, and the challenge of writing about Mayan mythology.
• This resource connects to the theme of Finding One’s Place in the World.
• What does Moreno-Garcia find challenging about referencing Mayan mythology in her fiction?

Chapters 6-7

Reading Check

1. From what was Hun-Kamé born?

2. What was Cirilo offered in exchange for helping Vucub-Kamé?

Short Answer

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

1. How was Hun-Kamé trapped in the chest?

2. How is Hun-Kamé different from other gods regarding the places he can go?

Chapters 8-9

Reading Check

1. Which holiday is being celebrated in Veracruz when Casiopea and Hun-Kamé arrive?

2. What does Hun-Kamé give to Casiopea to help her catch the Mam?

3. What does Hun-Kamé retrieve from the Mam?

Short Answer

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

1. What reason does Casiopea give for believing she is unattractive? 

2. What does Casiopea threaten to do when Hun-Kamé tells her she must seduce the Mam? 

3. What causes Casiopea to second-guess her allegiance to Hun-Kamé?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. What does Hun-Kamé use to summon the psychopomp?

2. Who does Vucub-Kamé summon to intercept Casiopea?

3. What does Hun-Kamé ask Casiopea to sacrifice to conjure ghosts?

Short Answer

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

1. When Casiopea asks to speak to her dead father, what does Hun-Kamé tell her?

2. What does Vucub-Kamé’s owl deliver to him?

3. What does Hun-Kamé learn from the ghosts?

Paired Resource

Psychopomp

• This resource from Big Think discusses the prevalence of the psychopomp across cultures and religions.
• This resource connects to the theme of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination.
• How does the psychopomp in Gods of Jade and Shadow compare and contrast to the psychopomps mentioned in this article?

Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. What is La Xtabay?

2. What does Martín promise Casiopea if she betrays Hun-Kamé?

3. What do Hun-Kamé and Casiopea bring to La Xtabay?

4. Where does Vucub-Kamé send Martín?

Short Answer

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

1. What does Martín dream about in the hotel in Mexico City?

2. How does Casiopea rescue Hun-Kamé?

3. What does Martín do when he cannot find Casiopea?

Paired Resource

“The Legend of La Xtabay”

• This article from The Yucatan Times provides the origin story of Xtabay.
• This resource connects to the theme of Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Does knowing the origin story of Xtabay help explain her actions in Gods of Jade and Shadow? Why or why not?

Chapters 17-21

Reading Check

1. Who comes to visit Xtabay after Hun-Kamé and Casiopea leave?

2. Where are Hun-Kamé and Casiopea going?

3. What does the witch give to Casiopea?

4. What is Aníbal Zavala?

Short Answer

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

1. Why is Casiopea concerned about finding Hun-Kamé asleep on the train?

2. What does Casiopea dream about when the witch puts her to sleep?

3. What does Zavala teach Martín?

Chapters 22-25

Reading Check

1. How does Hun-Kamé kill the Uay Chivo?

2. What does Casiopea daydream about while she and Hun-Kamé are on their way to Tijuana?

3. What sounds do the shells that the owl brings to Vucub-Kamé hold?

Short Answer

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

1. Vucub-Kamé realizes that Casiopea wants what “prize”?

2. Why is Vucub-Kamé unsettled?

3. What does Hun-Kamé warn Casiopea about that disappoints her?

Chapters 26-29

Reading Check

1. Where does the hotel connect?

2. What must Casiopea or Martín reach first to win the race?

3. What does Vucub-Kamé offer Casiopea in place of participating in the race?

Short Answer

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

1. When does Martín realize he will never be able to please his grandfather?

2. What are the terms of the race?

3. Why does Casiopea reject Vucub-Kamé’s alternative to the race? 

Paired Resource

“From Mud to the Sun: The World Tree of the Maya”

• This article from JSTOR Daily explains the significance of the ceiba tree, or the World Tree, that Casiopea must reach before Martín to restore Hun-Kamé to power.
• This resource connects to the theme of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination and Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Based on what you read in this article, why might Vucub-Kamé have chosen this tree as the finish line for the race between Casiopea and Martín?

Chapters 30-32

Reading Check

1. What name does Casiopea choose for Hun-Kamé?

2. What is Casiopea given for the journey on the Dark Road?

3. What is Kamazotz?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Casiopea refuse to speak the name she has given Hun-Kamé aloud? 

2. Why is it important that Casiopea remember the parting advice Hun-Kamé gives her? 

3. How does Casiopea escape the Kamazotz?

Paired Resource

“Camazotz: The Mayan Bat God”

• This article from Historical Mexico explains the origins of the bat god and provides images of statutes of Camazotz housed in their museum collection.
• This resource connects to the theme of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination.
• What similarities exist between Camazotz (Kamazotz) and European depictions of bat-like monsters (i.e., Dracula)?

Chapters 33-35

Reading Check

1. Who does Casiopea meet at the top of the hill above the Jade Palace?

2. What does the Great Caiman do?

3. Who teaches Casiopea how to drive?

Short Answer

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

1. What does Casiopea do when she arrives at the lake? 

2. What does Hun-Kamé do when he reaches the lake?

3. Why do flowers spring up in Xibalba?

Recommended Next Reads 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

• Set in 1950s Mexico City and the burned-out mining town of El Triunfo, Mexican Gothic is a horror-tinged thriller in which Noemí Taboada, a socialite with aspirations to become an anthropologist, goes to El Triunfo to rescue her cousin Catalina from the Doyles. The Doyles are an impoverished family of English silver barons who have united with a sentient fungus to ensure immortality for the family’s patriarch, Howard Doyle.
• This resource connects to the themes of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination, The Difference Between Freedom and Stagnation, and Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Shared topics include feminism, female heroines, and Mexico
• Mexican Gothic on SuperSummary

The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

• Set in 19th-century Mexico, this historical drama retells the classic science fiction story The Island of Dr. Moreau. Carlota Moreau, daughter of the genius yet eccentric Dr. Moreau, is a young woman growing up in a remote and luxurious estate on the Yucatan Peninsula. Far removed from prying eyes, Dr. Moreau is free to experiment, crossing ethical lines that he perhaps should not. As Carlota learns more about her father and his past, she makes hard decisions to protect those she loves.  
• This resource connects to the themes of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination, The Difference Between Freedom and Stagnation, and Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Shared topics include Mayan mythology, female heroines, and Mexico