SPA230 Intermediate Spanish

At the age of fourteen, Francisco Jiménez, together with his older brother Roberto and his mother, are caught byla migra. Forced to leave their home in California, the entire family travels all night for twenty hours by bus, arriving at the U.S. and Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona. In the months and years that follow during the late 1950s-early 1960s, Francisco, his mother and father, and his seven brothers and sister not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice. How they sustain their hope, their good-heartedness, and tenacityis revealed in this moving, Pura Belpré Honor-winning sequel toThe Circuit. Without bitterness or sentimentality, Francisco Jiménez finishes telling the story of his youth.

Leaving his home in Bonetti Ranch, a migrant community of dilapidated army barracks with no indoor plumbing or drinkable water, Francisco Jiménez sets off for college. He leaves behind a family struggling to pay for food and rent, and a desperate, broken father. Carrying memories of years of poverty and prejudice with him, he enters a world entirely different from his own. Yet as he types other students' papers in exchange for clothing, as he studies hard, as he meets with unexpected kindness, he uses those memories of struggle to see his way forward. Once again his telling is honest, true, and inspiring.

In this fourth book in his award-winning memoir series, Francisco Jimenez leaves everything behind in California--a loving family, a devoted girlfriend, and the culture that shaped him-- to attend Columbia University in New York City.   With few true accounts of the Latino experience in America, Francisco Jimenez's work comes alive with telling details about the warmth and resiliency of family and the quest for identity against seemingly impossible odds.