| Friday, March 13, 2009 |
| The Circuit & Breaking Through Book Review |
The Circuit and Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez are two inspiring books. These books are a collection of stories about Francisco's childhood as a migrant child. They come from Guadalajara, Mexico to California for a better life. His family faces poverty and discrimination in America and struggle to live as a big family. The family moves a lot for work which causes Francisco to not stay in school as much. Francisco and his family face a new life--trying to fit in and learn a new language. They work extremely hard for very little money, such as a janitor job that only pays $1.25 an hour(minimum wage at the time). Even though they were a very poor family, they made the best of their situation and still was a caring family.
The two books are stories of Francisco's life. One of my favorite stories within the two books was when Francisco goes to visit colleges and gets accepted. I liked this story because it shows that you can achieve anything as long as you can put your mind to it. It didn't matter that Francisco was a poor kid and he actually made it to college even though it was costly. He was able to receive scholarships and made more opportunities in America rather than he may had back in Mexico. Francisco made a good future in America which helped me realize why many immigrants are coming to America.
Francisco Jimenez writes with detail and feeling. You can feel how difficult their life was and the book really motivates you to enjoy life. Francisco Jimenez helps you understand the situation well and really captures how Mexican illegal immigrants felt when they came to this country. For living in San Diego, I never really knew why illegal immigrants came here until after reading this book.
The first book is mainly about Francisco's family, while the second is about Francisco and his life through school. Personally, I enjoyed Breaking Through more because I could relate to some of the stories and I thought that the stories were more interesting than the other book. One of the things that I really liked was the growth of Francisco's character. Throughout the book, you would see Francisco become more responsible and a leader. He becomes someone in the new country and makes a difference, especially at school.
I recommend these two books to everyone especially for kids ages 7-18, and if you would like to learn more about Mexican immigrants. In these books, the family are very grateful for every little thing that they had compared to other kids who may take many things for granted. The family made many sacrifices and didn't complain as much. They also took that the opportunities that they had in this country to succeed. These two books definitely make you appreciate every thing that you have. |
posted by charisse @ 2:34 PM  |
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