The Circuit by Fancisco Jimenez

The more that I read the more I am finding books that I find well written and interesting books points that I do not enjoy. It is usually hard for me to find a reason behind it other than just personal preference. Maybe I am a product of the fast paced society that I grew up in? Maybe it is because I have found out that I have a limited amount of time on this earth and I do not want to spend that time reading books that do not captivate me? But there are times that very much like my own students, I have to read a book because it is an assignment. That was the case with The Circuit by Fancisco Jimenez. I do not want anybody to believe that I hated the book, it was just a book that I read because I had too. While reading the book I could see why it has won awards, but for me it just did not do much.
With that said, even though I did not enjoy it, I think that it could be right book for some students. Some students will see this book and be able to relate to Jimenez. They will be able to say “I know what that feels like”. Hopefully from it they will be able to say that everyone has the ability to rise from whatever circumstance and know that they can do amazing things in this world. Francisco did not have an easy life, and many students today have to go through same thing. I remember some of the kids on my soccer team that had to miss practice because they need to work for the family. Kids that freedom care only after making sure they could pay rent. These are issues that we still struggle with as teachers for the foreseeable future. How do we make sure that we are conscious of what students are going though? How do we let them feel that they have their future ahead of them? Hopefully this book can help students realize this.
As a teacher I did see some things that could be used in the classroom. For me, this is a book that I could have the kids read, but I am not sure how well they would like it. I see this book more for what it can add to another unit. There are two units that I feel that this text would work very well for. First, right now I am doing a Of Mice and Men unit. While it takes place during the dust bowl, Francisco and his family have to go through much of the same routine that Lenny and George have to go through. They all have to move from place to place looking for work wherever they can find it. I think that many students have a hard time placing Of Mice and Men in the context of “this is something that could ever happen outside of the great depression.” If the students could see that this type of situation is still a possibility and even a reality for people, I think that they may be able to make some deeper connections with the text.
Another unit I feel this memoir might be able to add to a larger unit is when I teach a Latino curriculum later in the year. The district that I teach at is not known for their diversity. To many of the students the people who cross the border are barely human. It is not uncommon to hear my students spout the rhetoric that I am sure their parents have taught them. I feel that Jimenez does a great job creating and humanizing the struggle that so many Latino’s faced and still face today. I find that it is more difficult for students to dehumanize people when they have a face to put with them.
Overall, Jimenez does a great job allowing the reader to put themselves in California, and the labor camps that they had to live through. I could see Papa’s face when he heard the rain during cotton season, as well as the smile on Fancisco’s knowing he was going to sleep in. I could also feel that pain that the parents felt when they could not give their children more than a bag of candy for Christmas. I think that it is hard for my students to understand what abject poverty can be like. Many of my students throw a fit when they do not get the newest Ipod of cell phone, but Jimenez’s memoir might actually show students what poverty really is.
While I am able to look at this book and name so many great qualities, it still is a book that I was not engaged by. My fear for this text is that many students might have the same experience. For some of them it might just be another text that they have to read. I feel that the text moves relatively slowly and will have a hard time keeping the students attention for a long period of time. That is why I feel that this is a text that would be great for a larger unit. Jimenez does such a great job breaking up the text into smaller stories that I could choose these smaller pieces interspersed throughout to give the students a glimpse of what Jimenez and his family (and so many others) had to go through.