Friday, January 30, 2026

The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez:Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop






Today's Featured Book: 

The Circuit

by Francisco Jiménez

Genre: Graphic Novel; Memoir; Children's Book

Published: 2024

Page Count: 233 pages

Summary: 

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.





 


BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City ReaderWhat book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.








THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 









The Circuit is a graphic novel made from a book of short stories about the life of the author, Francisco Jiménez. When he was a boy, his parents decided to come to the United States for a better life. The family worked as day laborers on farms in California, moving from cotton fields to strawberry fields to fields of grapes, moving from tents to shacks to tenant houses, moving from school to school.

I've wanted to read this book for years, and what better time than now to learn about the life of an immigrant?

Now that I have read the graphic novel of this memoir, I plan to go ahead and read the author's original book and the sequels.



Jennifer of Introverted Jen is sponsoring the 2026 Immigration Reading Challenge. Jennifer notes, 'I firmly believe that a little empathy and understanding can help us put aside our differences, stop seeing people as “other” or “less than,” and find common ground and ways to live together peacefully.' You can find a list of books you might consider reading for the challenge here, and you can join in the challenge yourself here.

#2026immigrationreading








The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer   

Do you struggle to start a new read after finishing a truly amazing one? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

Yes! Do you?


4 comments:

  1. The illustrations are great. I'll be interested in hearing how the book stacks up with the graphic novel.

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  2. I do sometimes struggle to get involved in a new book after reading one that really 'spoke' to me. Often I end up sampling several and then sometimes I just have to take a minute or do a reread. Isn't that funny? Ha!

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  3. Nice, and I love the simple illustrations.
    My Friday post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/01/30/friday-book-hooks-5/

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  4. Thank you for introducing many of us to the "2026 Immigration Reading Challenge." I'm going to head over to Introverted Jen and check it out.

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I love to hear your thoughts.