Francisco Jiménez

"'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,

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

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