THE CIRCUIT

Rating:
Summary: The Pope vs The Circuit
Review: A collection of interrelated stories based on the author's experience as an illegal immigrant from Mexico in the late 1940s, working with his family as a migrant laborer. Exposes hardships without being didactic. Ambiguous. Makes me feel what it would be like to be poor in a country where I didn't speak the language. A nice companion to books like Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry or Out of the Dust. Ages 10+

Rating:
Summary: A Story of Democratic Justice Though the Eyes of a Child
Review: Author - Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child.

Publisher - University of New Mexico Press, 1997

Short Summary - A small book with huge heart, broken and mended over and over again, Jimenez voices the common "stories of many migrant children of yesterday and today", but not before asking "their forgiveness for taking the liberty to write about them." Many of the experiences shared bite like a bitter wind at the reader's heart. In his stories, tangible truths about what it is to live life in America rise out of the mists of these many invisible lives. Surviving some of the loneliest childhood moments, the boy teaches even more about life than he learns. Transformation of the spirit, like the delicate beauty of a butterfly's colors, belongs equally to all people. The poorest migrant boy who has nothing shows one who has everything how anything of value can only be kept by giving it away. When the boy, Francisco, learns to say, "It's yours," in English, the reader believes in miracles, and that miracles speak in all languages to all classes and races. 134 pages

Brief Evaluation - While green may not be a popular color for readers of this book, the stories receive the "green light" for readers to move forward, through the pages and beyond. Rates highly for poignancy and for shedding light on the on-going debates about the democracy and the development of social justice in the United States. Recommendations using VOYA evaluation codes: 5 for Quality/ 3 for popularity. A superior book for readers from late elementary into adulthood.

Read Aloud - pages 112-134, a deeply moving introduction to study of the Declaration of Independence
Literary Principle - Irony

Titles of similar interest For other interesting reading experiences, see:
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan; Crossing Over: a Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez; Baseball in April, and Other Stories by Gary Soto; Lost Garden by Laurence Yep; A Girl From Yamhill by Beverly Cleary; Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes and Louis Slobodkin; Istanbul Boy: the Autobiography of Aziz Nesin, Part I, translated by Joseph S Jacobson; The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer by Gary Paulsen; For advanced readers, try The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck or, something a little shorter, In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck. Others books by Francisco Jimenez are Breaking Through, La Mariposa, and The Christmas Gift/El Regalo de Navidad.

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Rating:
Summary: A Story of Democratic Justice Though the Eyes of a Child
Review: Author - Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child.

Publisher - University of New Mexico Press, 1997

Short Summary - A small book with huge heart, broken and mended over and over again, Jimenez voices the common "stories of many migrant children of yesterday and today", but not before asking "their forgiveness for taking the liberty to write about them." Many of the experiences shared bite like a bitter wind at the reader's heart. In his stories, tangible truths about what it is to live life in America rise out of the mists of these many invisible lives. Surviving some of the loneliest childhood moments, the boy teaches even more about life than he learns. Transformation of the spirit, like the delicate beauty of a butterfly's colors, belongs equally to all people. The poorest migrant boy who has nothing shows one who has everything how anything of value can only be kept by giving it away. When the boy, Francisco, learns to say, "It's yours," in English, the reader believes in miracles, and that miracles speak in all languages to all classes and races. 134 pages

Brief Evaluation - While green may not be a popular color for readers of this book, the stories receive the "green light" for readers to move forward, through the pages and beyond. Rates highly for poignancy and for shedding light on the on-going debates about the democracy and the development of social justice in the United States. Recommendations using VOYA evaluation codes: 5 for Quality/ 3 for popularity. A superior book for readers from late elementary into adulthood.

Read Aloud - pages 112-134, a deeply moving introduction to study of the Declaration of Independence
Literary Principle - Irony

Titles of similar interest For other interesting reading experiences, see:
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan; Crossing Over: a Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez; Baseball in April, and Other Stories by Gary Soto; Lost Garden by Laurence Yep; A Girl From Yamhill by Beverly Cleary; Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes and Louis Slobodkin; Istanbul Boy: the Autobiography of Aziz Nesin, Part I, translated by Joseph S Jacobson; The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer by Gary Paulsen; For advanced readers, try The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck or, something a little shorter, In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck. Others books by Francisco Jimenez are Breaking Through, La Mariposa, and The Christmas Gift/El Regalo de Navidad.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: A must read for all ages
Review: Francisco Jimenez brilliantly captures the voice of the young Panchito and the struggles and triumphs of his migrant family. The issue of Mexican immigration has become become hotly bebated, causing us to sometimes lose sight of the human vioce of those about which we so passionately talk. Jimenez's stories transform our understanding of Mexican sojourners, moving us from an abstract understanding of Mexican immigrantion to a more humane frame of mind. In essence, these twelve short-stories enable us to bear witness so that we may make a compassionate connection with those people who are represented by Jimenez's stories. What is more, the style with which Jimenez writes makes this book enjoyable for all ages. The Circuit should propel Jimenez into an arena with the great Chicano authors of our time.

Rating:
Summary: Unparalleled Compassion
Review: Francisco Jimenez doesn't preach, he doesn't tell, he doesn't demand that you change your views about the migrant population in the US; he does tell a story of a migrant family with more tenderness than I have read anywhere. He doesn't rely on dramatic anecdotes to relay his point, but rather allows the realistic simplicity of the stories to speak for themselves. Doing so makes the stories all the more meaninful, as the reader never feels like he is being told exagerated accounts of a migrant child's life.

Rating:
Summary: A Touching Eye-Opener
Review: I bought The Circuit because I am working with the children of Mexican migrant families this summer. As I read, I imagined the kids in my class experiencing the difficulties described by Jimenez, especially the poor living conditions. Yet the stories are not written as complaints. The hopeful spirit of the struggling family members really comes through, and moved me to tears more than once. Reading The Circuit has helped me to better understand and appreciate my young migrant friends. I'm passing my copy around so that my friends and family can see why I care about those kids so much!