Francisco Jimenez' autobiographical narrative The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child is narrated from his own perspective as a child. Francisco is the second oldest of six children. His family moves from Mexico to California to work as migrant crop pickers. Moving between three cities according to the various crop cycles, they never stay in one place very long. They are really forced to work cooperatively for the greater good of the family in order to survive because of poor wages, no job security, infants, illness, injuries, and horrible living conditions. As if all of these difficulties weren't sufficient to test the family, their house burns down at one point with all of their possessions inside. Francisco develops a passion for school when he is able to attend, although the constant moves he struggles to make too much progress. He's a determined boy, however, and soon organizes a system of self study which he is able to carry with him through the various moves.
As undocumented immigrants, the Jimenez family is under an enormous amount of stress, especially Papa. They live with the constant threat of deportation. All it takes is one stop by a government official, and they'll be discovered. Papa bears the full weight of this because it was his decision to move his family to America, but he is unable to protect them from the legal ramifications. Even worse, the three babies who are born in California are eligible to be United States citizens, so they would not be deported with the rest of the family in that situation. With the threat of legal involvement, the Jimenez' are subject to the whims of their employers because they do not have the legal protections to ensure safe and fair work conditions.
Francisco has a particularly unique situation as a migrant child in school. He receives a far inferior education compared to the other students in his classes because he cannot stay in school all year round and is constantly changing schools as his family moves. More importantly, however, his teachers make no effort to help him catch up; they just leave him to his own devices for the most part. Fortunately for Francisco, he possesses an innate passion for learning, so he puts in the extra effort to stay on track as best he can when he's not working. Added to this circumstantial misfortune, he must learn English. He's punished for speaking Spanish in school, but the school doesn't offer an English learning program. Somehow, with the aid of one kind teacher, Francisco successfully masters English which instantly helps him improve in school.
