After dark in a Mexican border town, a father holds open a hole in a wire fence as his wife and two small boys crawl through.

So begins life in the United States for many people every day. And so begins this collection of twelve autobiographical stories by Santa Clara University professor Francisco Jiménez, who at the age of four illegally crossed the border with his family in 1947.

The Circuit, the story of young Panchito and his trumpet, is one of the most widely anthologized stories in Chicano literature. At long last, Jiménez offers more about the wise, sensitive little boy who has grown into a role model for subsequent generations of immigrants.

These independent but intertwined stories follow the family through their circuit, from picking cotton and strawberries to topping carrots--and back again--over a number of years. As it moves from one labor camp to the next, the little family of four grows into ten. Impermanence and poverty define their lives. But with faith, hope, and back-breaking work, the family endures.

A jewel of a book--Rolando Hinojosa-Smith

These stories are so realistic they choke the heart.--Rudolfo Anaya

El intenso relato del viaje de una familia a través de los campos de California viviendo una vida en constante movimiento, de campos de fresa a campos de algodón, y de campamentos a cobertizos de un ambiente.

Narrada por un joven que anhela estudiar y obtener el derecho de elegir un hogar, esta es una historia de supervivencia, fe y esperanza. Un viaje que abrirá el corazón y la mente de los lectores.

Francisco Jiménez emigró de Tlaquepaque, México, a California, donde por muchos años trabajó junto con su familia en los campos. Obtuvo una maestría y un doctorado en la Universidad de Columbia, siendo actualmente jefe del Departamento de Lenguajes Modernos y Literatura de la Universidad de Santa Clara, el escenario principal de Mas allá de mí. Ha recibido premios por sus obras Cajas de cartón, Senderos fronterizos, La mariposa y Más allá de mí. Reside con su familia en Santa Clara, California.

'La frontera' . . . I heard it for the first time back in the late 1940s when Papa and Mama told me and Roberto, my older brother, that someday we would take a long trip north, cross la frontera, enter California, and leave our poverty behind.

So begins this honest and powerful account of a family's journey to the fields of California--to a life of constant moving, from strawberry fields to cotton fields, from picking grapes to topping carrots and thinning lettuce, from tent cities to one-room shacks. Seen through the eyes of a boy who longs for an education and the right to call one place home, this is a story of survival, faith, and hope. It is a journey that will open readers' hearts and minds.

Francisco Jiménez emigrated from Tlaquepaque, Mexico, to California, where he worked for many years in the fields with his family. He received both his master's degree and his Ph.D. from Columbia University and is now chairman of the Modern Languages and Literature Department at Santa Clara University, the setting of much of Reaching Out. He is the award-winning author of The Circuit, Breaking Through, La Mariposa, and Reaching Out. He lives in Santa Clara, California, with his family.

Poignantly told from a young boy's perspective, the popular and award-winning memoir centered on a Mexican family working California's fields is now a powerful graphic novel that will appeal to readers of Illegal and They Called Us Enemy.

An honest and evocative account of a family's journey from Mexico to the fields of California--and to a life of backbreaking work and constant household moves--as seen through the eyes of a boy who longs for education and the right to call one place home.

A popular choice for community reads, as well as school curricula and curriculum adoptions, Francisco Jiménez's award-winning memoir, now brought to life in Celia Jacob's beautiful and resonant artwork, is a powerful story of survival, faith, and hope.

At the age of fourteen, Francisco Jim nez, together with his older brother Roberto and his mother, are caught by la 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 tenacity is revealed in this moving, Pura Belpr Honor-winning sequel to The Circuit. Without bitterness or sentimentality, Francisco Jim nez finishes telling the story of his youth.

The third book in Francisco Jiménez's powerful and acclaimed memoirs about his childhood and adolescence as the son of Mexican immigrants in California.

In this eloquent, transfixing account, Jiménez again achieves a masterful addition to the literature of the memoir. --Smithsonian Magazine

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.

Rooted in the past, Jiménez's story is also about the continuing struggle to make it in America, not only for immigrant kids but also for those in poor families. Never melodramatic or self-important, the spare episodes will draw readers with the quiet daily detail of work, anger, sorrow, and hope. --Booklist (starred review)

No one who reads these life stories will forget them. Jiménez reaches out to let us walk in his shoes, feel his pain and pride, joy and sorrow, regrets and hope. --Sacramento Bee

Brings to the forefront the daily trials of poor immigrant families. Compelling and honest. --School Library Journal

has published and edited several books on Mexican and Mexican American literature.

Francisco Jiménez's four-book autobiography has been included in the American Library Association Booklist's 50 Best Young Adult Books of All Time and has been recognized with awards including the Américas Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Pura Belpré Honor Book Award, and the Tomás Rivera Book Award.

The CircuitBreaking ThroughReaching OutTaking Hold

From the perspective of the young adult he once was, Francisco Jimenez describes the challenges he faces when continuing his education. During his college years, the very family solidarity that allows Francisco to survive as a child is tested. Not only must he leave his family when his goes to Santa Clara University, but while Francisco is there, his father abandons the family and returns to Mexico. This is the story of how Francisco copes with poverty, with his guilt over leaving his family financially strapped, with his self-doubt about succeeding academically, and with separation. Once again, his telling is honest and true--and inspiring.

En este ultimo libro de su premiada serie de memorias, Francisco Jiménez deja todo atrás en California--una familia cariñosa, una novia devota, y la cultura que lo formó--para asistir a la Universidad de Columbia en Nueva York. Rara, honesta y auténtica de la experiencia de los latinos en los Estados Unidos de América, Pasos firmes ahora esta disponible en Español.

In this final book in his award-winning series of memoirs, Francisco Jiménez leaves everything behind in California--his loving family, devoted girlfriend, and the culture that raised him--to attend Columbia University. Singular, honest, and an authentic portrayal of the Latinx experience in the USA, Pasos firmes is now available in Spanish.

Llevando consigo recuerdos sobre años de pobreza y prejuicios sufridos, Francisco Jiménez entra en un mundo culturalmente diferente al suyo, uno que le hace cuestionarlo todo. Podrá sobresalir entre sus compañeros de la Ivy League? Cómo apoyará a su familia en casa, y a su padre en México, que está demasiado enfermo para trabajar?

Esta serie autobiográfica, honesta y conmovedora, ha encontrado un gran número ascendente de lectores. La obra de Jiménez cobra vida con detalles acerca del cariño y la resistencia de la familia y la búsqueda de la identidad contra todo pronóstico aparentemente imposible.

'La frontera'...I heard it for the first time back in the late 1940s when Papa and Mama told me and Roberto, my older brother, that someday we would take a long trip north, cross la frontera, enter California, and leave our poverty behind. So begins this honest and powerful account of a family's journey to the fields of California -- to a life of constant moving, from strawberry fields to cotton fields, from tent cities to one-room shacks, from picking grapes to topping carrots and thinning lettuce. Seen through the eyes of a boy who longs for an education and the right to call one palce home, this is a story of survival, faith, and hope. It is a journey that will open readers' hearts and minds.

In his first year of school, Francisco understands little of what his teacher says. But he is drawn to the silent, slow-moving caterpillar in the jar next to his desk. He knows caterpillars turn into butterflies, but just how do they do it? To find out, he studies the words in a butterfly book so many times that he can close his eyes and see the black letters, but he still can't understand their meaning. Illustrated with paintings as deep and rich as the wings of a butterfly, this honest, unsentimental account of a schoolchild's struggle to learn language reveals that our imaginations powerfully sustain us. La Mariposa makes a subtle plea for tolerance in our homes, in our communities, and in our schools.

En este ultimo libro de su premiada serie de memorias, Francisco Jiménez deja todo atrás en California--una familia cariñosa, una novia devota, y la cultura que lo formó--para asistir a la Universidad de Columbia en Nueva York. Rara, honesta y auténtica de la experiencia de los latinos en los Estados Unidos de América, Pasos firmes ahora esta disponible en Español.

In this final book in his award-winning series of memoirs, Francisco Jiménez leaves everything behind in California--his loving family, devoted girlfriend, and the culture that raised him--to attend Columbia University. Singular, honest, and an authentic portrayal of the Latinx experience in the USA, Pasos firmes is now available in Spanish.

Llevando consigo recuerdos sobre años de pobreza y prejuicios sufridos, Francisco Jiménez entra en un mundo culturalmente diferente al suyo, uno que le hace cuestionarlo todo. Podrá sobresalir entre sus compañeros de la Ivy League? Cómo apoyará a su familia en casa, y a su padre en México, que está demasiado enfermo para trabajar?

Esta serie autobiográfica, honesta y conmovedora, ha encontrado un gran número ascendente de lectores. La obra de Jiménez cobra vida con detalles acerca del cariño y la resistencia de la familia y la búsqueda de la identidad contra todo pronóstico aparentemente imposible.