Floriane Siegel’s Class Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

For Hispanic Heritage Month, Floriane Siegel’s second-grade class read The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez, a retelling of his life as a child moving up and down the California coast as an undocumented migrant worker with his family. Her students then wrote letters to the author to express their feelings about his book and ask him questions. He wrote back with a sweet and thoughtful note excerpted below.

 

“I would like to take this opportunity to tell your students that I wrote The Circuit, to document part of my family's history but, more importantly, to chronicle the lives of migrant families whose hard and noble work (all work is noble) put food on our tables. And what sustains these families, working hard every day, are the hopes and dreams of providing a better life for their children and children's children. In addition, many immigrant families have and continue to make valuable contributions to our country in literature, art, music, food, etc. These families are an inspiration to me, and their story is an important and integral part of the American story.”