In this highly autobiographical novel Francisco Jimenez tells the story of a Mexican family, who ruined by the aftermath of NAFTA, escapes to California to become migrant workers. The story is told from the point of view of the second son, who is around six years old in the beginning of the book. Sometimes the children help their parents harvesting cotton, strawberries and other crops. They only attend school a few months a year in various places. Since the children don't speak English they a dependent on the willingness of individual teachers to learn enough to get by. As time goes on the family grow and by the end of the book there are six children.

I loved this close look at the migrant worker experience in the fifties and sixties. The language is clear and simple, end the chapters are short, which makes the book very legible for fifth or sixth graders. The content, however, is definitely also meant for adults. I am looking forward to reading the sequel "Breaking Through".
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Only 2 stars because a couple passages managed to tug on my heartstrings a little bit. Otherwise, I have found far more cohesive, moving testaments to border issues. And WTF is up with that ending? For realz. ( )

The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez is a collection of stories about the author’s childhood experiences growing up in a migrant family. Told from his point of view as a child, his stories warm the heart as well as break it. The stories in this book with make you appreciate the little things we so often take for granted as children and even later as adults. The burdens that migrant children shoulder are immense as they try to balance work with home life, dedication to family with desire for an education. As we journey with the writer as he and his family move from migrant camp to migrant camp following work, we witness his compassion (saving minnows from quickly drying mud puddles), his sense of responsibility (picking cotton or harvesting grapes and strawberries with his family instead of attending school), his disappointment (looking forward to leaning to play the trombone or share a penny collection with a friend), and his joy (standing up to bullies) as he navigates a childhood in which his only wish for Christmas one year was for his very own ball. The strength and resilience of migrant families, and especially the children, in the face of prejudice, hardship, and living conditions most of us cannot even imagine is heartbreakingly astounding. ( )

I give this book a 5/5 rating. This book was so moving and actually made it feel very real, like you were actually there experiencing what was happening during that time period. This book is about a seven year old boy and his family. It is Francisco, his older brother, his mother and father. His family is from El Rancho Blanco and doesn't have a wealthy life so they immigrate to the united states. They immigrate to the United States to find a better life. Before they started a better life in the US they had to work very hard for everything. It made me see that not everyone's life is easy. My favorite part in the book was when he was describing how they crossed the border. I was so nervous if anything was going to go wrong, but luckily nothing happened. The book was very descriptive it went right to the point, and if you were confused about anything it ended up explaining it at some point throughout the book. Overall this is a good book for your class to read! ( )

The circuit is a good book to use with children of all backgrounds. It is about a young boy and his journey to this magical place called California. It talks about his struggles of moving around due to his family being migrant workers. They move to different labor camps and have a growing family. They struggle with poverty. This book is good to show to students because it is an accurate examples of how children see the world. It is amazing to help children learn about and relate to things they may not have otherwise heard or learned about. ( )