I believe the author wants me to learn from this reading that back then it wasn’t easy to have a job and the only job you could get was to work in the fields because you didn’t come to the U.S illegally. “Here you’ll find work picking strawberries. (page 5)” Another thing that wasn’t easy was crossing the border you would have to contact someone that could help you cross the border. “A few minutes later, we were picked up by a woman whom Papa had contacted in Mexicali, she had promised to pick us up in her car and drive us, for a fee, to a place where we could find work (page 4)”
The character Panchito reminds me of myself back when I was in 1st grade when I came to California from Mexico not knowing English. My first day in the 1st grade was not easy I felt embarrassed, shy, nervous, and frustrated. For me learning English was not easy it was really difficult and when I tried to say something in English my classmates would make fun of me or would point at me and make fun of me. From that day on in the mornings my mom would wake me up and I would cry because I didn’t want to go to school because I knew my classmates would laugh at me, I cried for about 2 months not wanting to go to school. I know the struggle and how it feels not knowing English. When I was in 2nd grade I was a little more better with speaking English yet people would still laugh at me. I tried not to give up and I passed 2nd grade knowing English more and speaking it better than before.
In the chapter Christmas Gift is where I started liking the book. From that chapter what I liked was that the character Panchito and his brothers did not complain about what they had gotten for Christmas so then I started liking the book more as I read and was surprised for all the stuff and struggle his family and him went through.
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