50 pages • 1 hour read
Tony JohnstonAny Small Goodness
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Green Needle Gang”
Still recovering from the shooting, Arturo feels like a ghost, brooding over right and wrong. He’s fiercely angry and plans to seek his own version of vengeance. One night, he calls his friends, inviting them and Luis to form a secret gang. They all readily agree, calling themselves the Green Needle Gang.
One night, around Christmastime, Mami and Papi visit a friend’s house for a posada, a celebration in Mexican culture that commemorates Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem and struggle for safe lodging. They bring along Rosa and Abuelita, too, and plan to stay late into the night. Realizing that they’ll be unsupervised, the Green Needle Gang hopes to realize their master plan.
As soon as his parents drive away, Arturo’s friends slip out of the bushes. They’re dressed in all-black sweaters and gloves. Arturo pulls on a black turtleneck—trying to fight the late December cold—and sports his blue jeans.
Luis still can’t drive, so he recruits his friend Flan as a getaway driver. Flan pulls up in a jet-black pickup truck, nicknamed Maybelline, and shows off his skill at navigating the LA streets. The Gang loads up the car with all their gear.
All month, the group has been stalking houses, either by foot or in Flan’s car. After some deliberation, they identified a group of houses that they planned to target. They carefully plotted a course of action, committing themselves to secrecy. As the Gang hops into Flan’s car, piling in the truck’s flatbed, they realize that everything is finally in motion. Arturo calls roll, then thumps the cab, signaling Flan to pull away.
En route, Arturo admires the Christmas decorations that light up the neighborhood. He imagines his parents at their party, sharing food and a game of dominoes. He wonders how they’d respond if they were to find out about his plan. Alicia, sensing Arturo’s preoccupation, asks him what’s on his mind. When Arturo shares, Raúl pipes up that his own parents would be impressed with “our modus operandi” (109).
The group turns up Olivo Street. Most of the houses are dark, though some glimmer with soft light. The Gang slowly approaches their target: an old lady with a house full of small, rambunctious children. Rat Nose discovered her and nicknamed her Pigeon Woman, inspired by her plain appearance and dusty, nest-like house. As Flan cuts the engine, Arturo wonders if Pigeon Woman might “loco-out” (111). Before jumping out of the truck, Alicia guesses that their mission will be a piece of cake.
As they slink through the night, Flan plays lookout. Arturo’s heart pumps loudly. He’s secretly thrilled by the threat of being caught. Initially, the Gang moves with caution, hurdling over hedges and using thick bushes as cover. However, Raúl trips, causing a minor ruckus. A patrolling police officer overhears and flicks on his flashlight, spotting them instantly. At first, the officer is suspicious, ready to apprehend them. However, the group quickly introduces themselves as the Green Needle Gang, and the officer lets them go, urging them to hurry. Quickly, the group deposits their package on the Pigeon Woman’s front porch. Though his friends quickly scatter, Arturo stays put and rings the doorbell. Alongside the package, he leaves a note, reading “The Green Needle Gang Strikes Again!” (112). Before he can be discovered, he runs back to the truck. Jumping into the flatbed, he joins the rest of the Gang. They all crouch low, nervous that they might be spotted. Flan, still at the wheel, slowly inches away from the house.
The Pigeon Woman emerges, flicking on a light. Soon, she spots the package: a tall Christmas tree, ornately decorated and covered with presents. She calls to the children, and they run to join her on the front porch. The whole family laughs and cries, and they yell their thanks into the darkness. When the police officer approaches them, asking if there’s trouble, the Pigeon Woman only laughs. Still in the truck bed, the group hugs each other, delighted that their mission has proven successful. Arturo thumps the cab again, and Flan takes off. Once back home, the whole Gang celebrates their triumph.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Christmas Presents”
The Rodriguez family decorates their home for Christmas, incorporating flowers, paper chains, and a nativity scene with only two wise men. Instead of spending money on presents for everyone, the Rodriguez family keeps with a simpler tradition: They each select a name from a cookie jar and are expected to prepare a gift for only one person. The rule is that the gift must be homemade, to prove that it comes from the heart. As the family picks from the jar, Mami offers freshly baked cookies. Even Huitla joins the draw, though one person is expected to double-up to compensate. Everyone commits to secrecy, and they never reveal their choice. They each work tirelessly to make sure that their gift is truly special.
Arturo explains that the Rodriguez family celebrates not just with presents but with food, too. Each Christmas, the family enters into a “tamale-a-thon” (118), preparing tamales for friends, neighbors, and family. Arturo joins in the preparation, chopping onions while wearing his famous ski-goggles. The whole family participates in stuffing the tamales, alternating between fillings of chicken, pork, and corn. They even make a few dessert tamales, dyeing them pink in honor of Rosa.
Together, the family delivers tamales to friends like the members of the Green Needle Gang, Leo Love, Coach Tree, and Officer Paster. Arturo even reaches out to Miss Pringle. He attempts to contact Ms. Cloud, hoping to include her in the tradition, but he’s unable to locate her new address.
As Christmas Eve arrives, the family exchanges their presents. An old Elvis Presley record—one of Abuelita’s favorites—plays gently in the background. Their tree is topped with a paper angel that Rosa has made, albeit with Mami’s help. Every year, the angel tears, and the family hurries to repair it. Though the angel is hardly beautiful, the family loves it just the same.
As they exchange presents, the Rodriguezes stop to toast with atole, a hot, corn-based beverage that’s popular in Mexican cuisine. Though each giver is supposed to remain a mystery, the family can easily spot each other’s handiwork. Papi has made a new wise man decoration for Mami, sculpted and painted in the Mexican style. Arturo gives Abuelita a string of angels made from tamale husks. Huitla receives a catnip toy fashioned from a pair of old pajamas. Luis unwraps a brightly colored shirt that Mami has made. And, lastly, Papi dons a bright pink scarf from Rosa, laughing as he twirls around. The rest of the family joins in, and even Huitla swats at the scarf as it trails along the ground. Luis comes up with a new tune: “La Bufanda Rosa y Gloriosa [The Glorious and Pink Scarf]” (124).
Arturo opens his present last: a wooden Christmas tree carefully decorated with lights, ornaments, and tiny needles. Arturo immediately recognizes Luis’s work and hangs the ornament on the tree. As they all admire the tree, Arturo realizes how wholly and sincerely he loves his family. Despite his earlier reservations, he decides that “with my family here, with good people out there in the barrio” (125), the night is truly special.
Chapters 8-9 Analysis
These two final chapters center around Christmas, foregrounding discussions of tradition and family. Against the backdrop of the holiday, Johnston explores a defining characteristic of the Rodriguez family: generosity. From Arturo’s adventures with the Green Needle Gang to the family’s unique tradition, the Rodriguez family sees giving as essential to their happiness.
In the wake of the attack on his family’s home, Arturo joins the Green Needle Gang with his friends and Luis. Together, the Green Needle Gang plans to supply a deserving neighborhood family with a fresh Christmas tree and a pile of presents. Though the Gang acts secretly, without their parents’ knowledge, the spirit of their plan nevertheless parallels the holiday party that has occupied the rest of the family. Taking Rosa and Abuelita along, Mami and Papi attend a posada. At the party, Mami and Papi stuff themselves with food, and Arturo imagines them “lingering with the compadres [friends]” (105). Though their evenings are notably different, both branches of the family approach the Christmas holiday as an opportunity to commune with and serve their community. As Mami and Papi chat with friends and reflect on the example of Mary and Joseph—wandering, poor, and lost—so too does Arturo reach out to the community’s disadvantaged, hoping to alleviate their struggle.
The Green Needle Gang decides to visit an older woman with a house full of children. Johnston uses ambiguous language, heightening the possibility that Arturo is seeking violent revenge on the gang who shot at his house. Dressed in a “black turtleneck and black knit cap” (106), with Luis’s friend enlisted as a getaway driver, Arturo joins his friends as they enact a secret plan. Moving through shadows, they approach their target stealthily, like “cats who know the night” (111). Such imagery immediately evokes treachery, and the resulting suspense gives way to relief at the chapter’s reveal: Arturo and his friends have merely formed the Green Needle Gang, anonymously surprising neighborhood families with gifts and a fresh Christmas tree. In a comedic twist, Arturo has reinvented the gang trope, co-opting its emphasis on secrecy to serve the community.
Lloyd has scouted the location, describing the old lady as “lumpy and brown as a potato” (109). However, the Green Needle Gang is too perceptive to be confused by True Character Versus Appearance, and they decide that the old woman worthy of a visit. Moving stealthily, they leave a tree on the woman’s front porch. As the Gang has predicted, the family explodes with happiness, until Arturo shares their joy. Though Arturo and his friends could have kept the gifts and tree for themselves, or limited expenses by buying fewer items, they refused, explaining that “one thing about us–we never skimp” (114). Indeed, to the Green Needle Gang, generosity is its own reward, more significant than any material gain.
Throughout the novel, Papi has enriched this lesson with a powerful adage: “When no eyes are upon him, that is a person’s true test” (36). The Green Needle Gang takes those words to heart, deepening their generosity through anonymity and emphasizing True Character Versus Appearance. The night of the gifting, they sneak to the front door, moving through shadows to remain undetected. Though Arturo rings the doorbell, leaving behind a simple calling-card, he quickly dashes back to the truck, where everyone “is scrunched down real low in the truck’s belly” (113). They watch as the family rejoices. However, neither Arturo nor his friends are tempted to reveal themselves. They are content to exist anonymously, concerned with the recipients’ happiness instead of their own recognition. On the drive back, Arturo realizes he has accomplished something truly good.
In the novel’s final chapter, as the Rodriguez family celebrates Christmas, Arturo applies this spirit of generosity to his own family. Arturo explains that he mistrusts American consumerism and its distance from the holiday spirit. He quotes Papi, joking that “most people at Christmas make those Visa guys grin from one plastic ear to the other” (117). Here, “plastic” refers to a credit card but similarly suggests something cheap, sterile, or artificial. To the Rodriguezes, such lack of feeling is appalling, and they celebrate their own traditions to restore the Christmas spirit, hence Embracing a Multicultural Identity.
In the Rodriguez household, each person only gives a present to one other person, as selected randomly. Arturo emphasizes that each gift must be “something you make or write or do” (117). Here, quality is more meaningful than quantity, and the effort of giving weighs just as significantly as the gifts themselves. For instance, Abuelita receives a choir of angels fashioned out of tamale husks, made by Arturo’s “fumbler-hands” (122). Though the angels are hardly the prettiest, Abuelita cherishes them, seeming as though she’s “right up there in heaven with happiness” (122).
Just like the Green Needle Gang, the Rodriguez family deepens their generosity with secrecy, never officially revealing themselves as gift-giver: “[W]e all play totally bobo [fool],” Arturo explains, “like we’re perplexed out of our minds” (118). To honor this dedication to selflessness, Luis gives Arturo a small, wooden Christmas tree, a reference to the Green Needle Gang and a symbol of its many enduring values. Looking around, Arturo realizes that the Rodriguez family is at their happiest when they’ve had an opportunity to give and to share. The novel closes on an uplifting message: Family is the real gift.
