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cdjdhj's review against another edition
3.0
I read this for my class on Boys and Literacy. I plan to pair this non-fiction book with the fiction book, Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs, that I recently read. This book, Circuit, is a small book of short stories from the life of a migrant child in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The stories are interesting and very eye opening. This migrant child eventually grew up to be a professor of modern languages at Santa Clara University, but his early years as the child of illegal migrant farm workers was filled with poverty, deprivation and discrimination. My next read will be the sequel to this, a book called Breaking Through. Everyone who thinks he or she is an expert on the problem of illegal immigration and what should be done about it needs to read and contemplate this book and and others like Crossing the Wire and the Tortilla Curtain. It reminds me of the famous quote by Atticus Finch in the classic To Kill a Mockingbird (a book I dearly love) when he said that you never really know someone until you walk around in his shoes. Books like this one allow us to walk in the shoes of those individuals who come to this country out of poverty and desparation and do our most menial work for sub-standard pay, all while living in fear of being sent back to conditions so bad we can barely imagine them. Very thought provoking.
melodys_library's review against another edition
5.0
Quick and moving read. I got a lump in my throat and wanted to hug Panchito at the end of each story.
book_concierge's review against another edition
5.0
This slim volume packs an extraordinary emotional punch. The stories Jimenez relates are autobiographical, depicting the life he and his family led as migrant workers in 1940s California. Told from the perspective of the second son in a strong, loving family, the stories carry the reader through about eight years of working “the circuit.”
What I particularly like about the book is that while Jimenez doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties of this life, he doesn’t dwell on the negatives, either. Yes, we suffer with the family when they cannot afford medical care for a seriously ill child, the father is injured on the job, or people take advantage of their circumstances. But what is more memorable to me is the enjoyment in reading about the pleasure of exploring a new setting, of inventing games to play, of laughing with your friends or family, of learning new skills, of achieving goals. I think it is an accurate depiction of how children see the world and their place in it. Jimenez was wise to choose this voice for his stories. I could not help but think of my father, or of cousins who “picked cherries every summer.” I cried, I laughed; I loved this family.
The ending is a kick to the stomach and I sat stunned for a few moments … looking at the last two blank pages and the back cover in disbelief that the book had ended. I know there is a sequel and I will definitely read it.
What I particularly like about the book is that while Jimenez doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties of this life, he doesn’t dwell on the negatives, either. Yes, we suffer with the family when they cannot afford medical care for a seriously ill child, the father is injured on the job, or people take advantage of their circumstances. But what is more memorable to me is the enjoyment in reading about the pleasure of exploring a new setting, of inventing games to play, of laughing with your friends or family, of learning new skills, of achieving goals. I think it is an accurate depiction of how children see the world and their place in it. Jimenez was wise to choose this voice for his stories. I could not help but think of my father, or of cousins who “picked cherries every summer.” I cried, I laughed; I loved this family.
The ending is a kick to the stomach and I sat stunned for a few moments … looking at the last two blank pages and the back cover in disbelief that the book had ended. I know there is a sequel and I will definitely read it.
clone's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
fuckoff_imreading's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
barbtetnis's review against another edition
4.0
It is a nice book that sheds light on Mexican immigrants and migrant workers. Well done.
kibler01's review against another edition
4.0
For some reason, I'm pretty sure I've read this before. Maybe an ESL class at ISU? It was a free audiobook, but I did enjoy it and it's an easy listen/read. It's a powerful example of poverty, immigration, and learning a 2nd language.
kmcneil's review against another edition
3.0
From Booklist 12/1/97
Gr. 5 and up. Jimenez's exquisite autobiographical short story "The Circuit" is widely anthologized. Now he has connected it with 11 more stories that are based on his experience as a child in a migrant farmworker family, from the time they leave Mexico to enter the U.S. "under the wire" through the years of moving from place to place, picking cotton, picking grapes, picking strawberries, thinning lettuce, topping carrots, always moving. Panchito's dream is elemental: to stay in one place, to go to school without months of interruption. His joy is to return to a place that he recognizes. Each of these short stories builds quietly to a surprise that reveals the truth, and together the stories lead to the tearing climax. The characters aren't idealized: though the family is warm, their bitter struggle creates anger and jealousy as well as love. They meet a migrant worker who had to leave his family behind in Mexico, but Panchito and his parents and his brothers and sisters are "all living at home," together, even though they are "moving still." Some teachers are kind; some classrooms and playgrounds are ugly. The simple words are both fact and poetry: the physicalness of the backbreaking work ("When you get tired from squatting, you can pick on your knees"); the yearning for education, for place. Almost nothing has been written for young readers about this Chicano experience, except for Pat Mora's picture book about Rivera, Tomas and the Library Lady (1997), Ada Flor Ada's Gathering the Sun (1997), and photo-essays, such as Beth Atkin's Voices from the Fields (1993). Like Steinbeck's classic Grapes of Wrath, Jimenez's stories combine stark social realism with heartrending personal drama. --Hazel Rochman
Reading level: 5.3
Interest level: 6-10
Gr. 5 and up. Jimenez's exquisite autobiographical short story "The Circuit" is widely anthologized. Now he has connected it with 11 more stories that are based on his experience as a child in a migrant farmworker family, from the time they leave Mexico to enter the U.S. "under the wire" through the years of moving from place to place, picking cotton, picking grapes, picking strawberries, thinning lettuce, topping carrots, always moving. Panchito's dream is elemental: to stay in one place, to go to school without months of interruption. His joy is to return to a place that he recognizes. Each of these short stories builds quietly to a surprise that reveals the truth, and together the stories lead to the tearing climax. The characters aren't idealized: though the family is warm, their bitter struggle creates anger and jealousy as well as love. They meet a migrant worker who had to leave his family behind in Mexico, but Panchito and his parents and his brothers and sisters are "all living at home," together, even though they are "moving still." Some teachers are kind; some classrooms and playgrounds are ugly. The simple words are both fact and poetry: the physicalness of the backbreaking work ("When you get tired from squatting, you can pick on your knees"); the yearning for education, for place. Almost nothing has been written for young readers about this Chicano experience, except for Pat Mora's picture book about Rivera, Tomas and the Library Lady (1997), Ada Flor Ada's Gathering the Sun (1997), and photo-essays, such as Beth Atkin's Voices from the Fields (1993). Like Steinbeck's classic Grapes of Wrath, Jimenez's stories combine stark social realism with heartrending personal drama. --Hazel Rochman
Reading level: 5.3
Interest level: 6-10
juliebcooper's review against another edition
5.0
Read this as one of two books on migrant child farm labor for our upcoming bookclub. I highly recommend this to adults who are curious as well as to parents with kids (it's written in a young persons voice) who may not know that there are children who still work the fields in the US and are the reason we have fresh veggies and fruit at meal time. This reflects a personal history that took place decades earlier, and yet the story is still the same to this day for many migrant kids. The book we are reading as a companion to this and which I start next, was written by teens from WA state and recently published. It's called "DreamFields: A Peek into the World of Migrant Youth". A good friend of mine was the editor and works with the kids whose stories appear in the book.
http://dreamfieldsbook.wordpress.com/
http://dreamfieldsbook.wordpress.com/