AuthorandBookExploration

Janel Lucas and Lucy Smith English 8-5.5 and 8-1 30 October,2008 **__Breaking Through__****Author and Book Exploration** 2. Francisco Jimenez started writing books in 1974. He wrote many books, but the most known books are, __The Circuit: Stories from a Migrant Child, Reaching Out and__ __Breaking Through__. He is currently working at Santa Clara University as the Fay Boyle Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. For his book __Breaking Through__, he has won many awards such as Best Book for Young Adults 2002, Booklist Editors' Choice and many more. He has also won many for his book, __The Circuit: Stories from a Migrant Child.__ 3. Francisco Jimenez wrote __Breaking Through__ because he wanted to tell his story. His connection to the book's subject is obvious; __Breaking Through__ tells his own story as a teenager. The purpose of the book is to show people of the conditions and hardships faced by immigrant families in California. It also shows a family's courage to overcome obstacles and find a better life in America. 4. The book Breaking Through is a sequel to __The Circuit: Stories from a Migrant Child__. __Breaking Through__ was published in 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Breaking Through has not been made into other forms, but one chapter from __The Circuit: Stories from a Migrant Child__ was adapted to another book by Francisco Jimenez. 5. Professional critics say that __Breaking Through__ lacks the intensity and voice of his first book, __The Circuit.__ Overall, the critics say this is a good book for many Americans to read. It was reviewed by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist. Other professional reviews say that the theme is touching and characters that people can relate to. 6. Many readers say that the award winning book __Breaking Through__ was an outstanding, heart-warming, inspirational book. Though some reviews by regular people say that it doesn't seem like a good or interesting book but after reading some of it they unexpectedly loved it. 7. We couldn't find anything on the Internet concerning controversy about __Breaking Through__. Although, we think that some differing opinions could be that the scenes where kids are acting prejudiced towards Francisco could be considered funny, or wrong. Francisco Jimenez was probably trying to point out to people that prejudice is wrong and you shouldn't judge people by their race. Other subject controversy could be about immigrants, and whether or not Francisco's family should have been permitted to come back into the US.
 * 1) Francisco Jimenez came to the USA from Tlaquepaque, Mexico with his family. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Latin American literature from Columbia University under a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and his B.A. from SCU. He worked in the California fields as a little boy. Currently, he's working at Santa Clara University as the Fay Boyle Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and lives in Santa Clara, California. He has a wife and three sons.