| Strategies Review of Key Quizzes &
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 1 -
Answer✅
When The Circuit starts, we don't know our narrator's name yet, but we do find out that
he's got some seriously big dreams. You see, when he was a kid in the late 1940s, he lived in
Mexico in a town called El Rancho Blanco, but his family has been chatting about moving to
California. And you can bet he's excited.
And he's not the only one—the whole entire family is stoked. The narrator's Mamá, Papá,
and older bro Roberto all can't wait to travel to California. Roberto gets extra amped up
after visiting his cousin, Fito, in Guadalajara. Fito has some modern amenities like running
water and electricity, and Roberto can't wait to have those things too.
Finally it's time for the trip. Wahoo. The narrator and his family hop on a train to California.
While on the train, they chat about what Cali will be like.
Fast fact: Our narrator has a nickname—it's Panchito.
Eventually the train reaches its destination: Mexicali (a.k.a. the area just south of the
California border). The narrator and his family call this area la frontera and they can't wait
to cross it.
There's just one problem: a humongous barbed wire fence patrolled by guards with guns.
Yep, that's border patrol and this family is going to have to find a way around them.
So they walk a super long way until they find an area where they can crawl under the fence.
Papá pays a woman to drive them to Guadalupe, a coastal town where they're hoping to
find work as laborers.
The next day, they meet some nice folks in the worker's camp. The good news is that the
camp foreman lends them a tent to sleep in, but the bad news is that they can't start picking
strawberries for another two weeks. And that's a big bummer.
1
,So here's how they spend the next two weeks while they wait to start work: Mamá is a
resourceful lady and she finds a way to cook outside on a stove she whips
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 2 -
Answer✅
Looks like this family found work because they're off to pick cotton. Well, everyone except
Panchito and his baby brother, Trampita, whom he has to babysit in the car. Panchito's
pretty bummed about this gig.
After his parents and Roberto come back for their lunch break, Panchito is by himself again.
But this time he makes a big decision: he's going to prove that he can pick cotton too. So he
basically ditches Trampita in the car and picks cotton instead.
By the end of the day, our narrator's cotton pile is small—like really small—so he mixes in
some dirt so that it'll weigh more and be worth more money.
He's all set to make his parents proud, which means we know that his parents are going to
be seriously ticked off. And they are. His mom is mad that Trampita wet his diaper and
broke his bottle, and his dad is mad about all the dirt Panchito tried to cheat with.
All in all, this day has turned out to be a sour one. At least Panchito has Roberto to make
him feel better.
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 3 -
Answer✅
It's time for the first day of school, and our main man is nervous. You see, he's never been
to school before and Roberto has some scary stories, like how everything is in English,
which he and his family don't speak.
Our narrator and his bro will be starting in the middle of the year. They were picking
cotton in another part of California called Corcoran in the fall, but now that it's January his
family has moved near Santa Maria to pick strawberries. And a new place means a whole
new chance to try out school.
By the way, in the middle of all this school talk we find out that Mamá is pregnant with
another baby.
Okay, so our narrator is super nervous—but after taking the bus to school and meeting the
nice principal, Mr. Sims, he's starting to feel better. He can't understand when his first grade
2
,teacher, Miss Scalapino, talks in English—which happens pretty much all the time—but there
is a cool caterpillar in a jar, so that's a plus.
Guess what? Panchito's real name is Francisco. Nice to know, isn't it?
Francisco has made a friend named Arthur, who also speaks Spanish, so that's cool, and Mr.
Sims notices that Francisco needs a jacket so he gives him one from the used bin. Yep, he's a
nice guy.
So since all this good stuff is going on, you just know some bad hullabaloo is on the way—
and that bad hullabaloo is called Curtis. You see, Curtis claims the jacket is his and he's
going to fight to get it back. Oh goodie.
The rest of the day pretty much stinks. The only good things are seeing the caterpillar
spinning itself into a cocoon, and that Francisco's parents aren't too mad at him. Phew.
A few days later, Francisco gets a seriously awesome surprise. He'd drawn a butterfly pic
weeks earlier and now Miss Scalapino gives him an award for it. Yay for recognition.
The day just gets better when that cocooned caterpil
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 4 -
Answer✅
Francisco tells us a bit about the place in Santa Maria where he lives. They call it Tent City
because it's a bunch of tents, but it's not exactly it's own city; adding to its charm is the fact
that the city dump is nearby.
Remember how in the last chapter Francisco mentioned that his mom was pregnant? Well
now she's about to pop. But she still spends her days cooking from 4:00AM on so that all
the workers in Tent City get fed, and also finds time to set things up for the new baby.
Sheesh, that woman is one super Mamá.
Francisco and Roberto help out with the cooking and the baby-readying. They even go
dumpster-diving to find wood to make a floor in the tent.
Everyone is seriously stoked when the youngest bro, Juan Manuel, is born. He also gets a
cool nickname: Torito (which means little bull).
But all these newborn good times come to a halt when Torito gets sick. And when we say
sick, we mean knocking on death's door kind of sick. You see, Torito's fever goes from bad
to worse really fast, and before the family knows it his whole body is stiffening up and
they're worried he's dead. Luckily, he gets through the night and starts breathing again, but
overall things aren't looking too great.
3
, Mamá and Papá don't want to take Torito to a hospital, because they don't have money. But
there's a woman in Tent City named Doña María who's got her own ways for curing folks;
she tries rubbing some eggs on Torito's stomach. Sadly he gets stiff again so Mamá and Papá
rush him to the hospital.
While they're gone, Francisco is super scared. He prays for his little bro, but when Mamá
and Papá return Torito is still at the hospital.
He stays there all the next day and Francisco isn't allowed to see him, which stinks. Plus, his
parents are really sad. They even seem almost mad at Francisco, which is pretty confusing.
That night, the
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 5 -
Answer✅
Francisco and his family are back in Corcoran picking cotton; before this they were in
Fowler for grape season.
Here's the thing about Corcoran: it's super rainy. And that means everyone has to stay
inside their cabins. But the best part about staying inside is that Francisco gets to check out
the awesome goldfish that the folks have next door. He and his mom love to look through
their window and watch that little bugger swimming around, so they give it a special name:
el Angel de Oro (a.k.a. The Golden Angel).
Francisco is going to go to a new school now that he's back in Corcoran, and on his first day
he meets a new friend, Miguelito, who also lives in the cotton labor camp.
Miguelito is pretty great, and he and Francisco hang out at the creek behind the cabins and
check out the little fish; Miguelito breaks off branches that they can turn into fishing poles.
It's all going fine and dandy until the next day. When Francisco looks for Miguelito, he and
his whole family have already left the camp.
Francisco doesn't know where they went, which means we don't know either, but one
thing's for sure: losing a friend is a big downer.
Once it stops raining in Corcoran, Francisco notices that the water is drying up and that
means the fish in the puddles are now dying in the mud. He tries to move as many as he can
to the creek, but he leaves one fish in a can outside the cabin with the goldfish. You can
guess where that little grey fish ends up—right in the bowl with the Golden Angel.
Francisco sends his fishing pole down the creek, too.
4
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 1 -
Answer✅
When The Circuit starts, we don't know our narrator's name yet, but we do find out that
he's got some seriously big dreams. You see, when he was a kid in the late 1940s, he lived in
Mexico in a town called El Rancho Blanco, but his family has been chatting about moving to
California. And you can bet he's excited.
And he's not the only one—the whole entire family is stoked. The narrator's Mamá, Papá,
and older bro Roberto all can't wait to travel to California. Roberto gets extra amped up
after visiting his cousin, Fito, in Guadalajara. Fito has some modern amenities like running
water and electricity, and Roberto can't wait to have those things too.
Finally it's time for the trip. Wahoo. The narrator and his family hop on a train to California.
While on the train, they chat about what Cali will be like.
Fast fact: Our narrator has a nickname—it's Panchito.
Eventually the train reaches its destination: Mexicali (a.k.a. the area just south of the
California border). The narrator and his family call this area la frontera and they can't wait
to cross it.
There's just one problem: a humongous barbed wire fence patrolled by guards with guns.
Yep, that's border patrol and this family is going to have to find a way around them.
So they walk a super long way until they find an area where they can crawl under the fence.
Papá pays a woman to drive them to Guadalupe, a coastal town where they're hoping to
find work as laborers.
The next day, they meet some nice folks in the worker's camp. The good news is that the
camp foreman lends them a tent to sleep in, but the bad news is that they can't start picking
strawberries for another two weeks. And that's a big bummer.
1
,So here's how they spend the next two weeks while they wait to start work: Mamá is a
resourceful lady and she finds a way to cook outside on a stove she whips
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 2 -
Answer✅
Looks like this family found work because they're off to pick cotton. Well, everyone except
Panchito and his baby brother, Trampita, whom he has to babysit in the car. Panchito's
pretty bummed about this gig.
After his parents and Roberto come back for their lunch break, Panchito is by himself again.
But this time he makes a big decision: he's going to prove that he can pick cotton too. So he
basically ditches Trampita in the car and picks cotton instead.
By the end of the day, our narrator's cotton pile is small—like really small—so he mixes in
some dirt so that it'll weigh more and be worth more money.
He's all set to make his parents proud, which means we know that his parents are going to
be seriously ticked off. And they are. His mom is mad that Trampita wet his diaper and
broke his bottle, and his dad is mad about all the dirt Panchito tried to cheat with.
All in all, this day has turned out to be a sour one. At least Panchito has Roberto to make
him feel better.
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 3 -
Answer✅
It's time for the first day of school, and our main man is nervous. You see, he's never been
to school before and Roberto has some scary stories, like how everything is in English,
which he and his family don't speak.
Our narrator and his bro will be starting in the middle of the year. They were picking
cotton in another part of California called Corcoran in the fall, but now that it's January his
family has moved near Santa Maria to pick strawberries. And a new place means a whole
new chance to try out school.
By the way, in the middle of all this school talk we find out that Mamá is pregnant with
another baby.
Okay, so our narrator is super nervous—but after taking the bus to school and meeting the
nice principal, Mr. Sims, he's starting to feel better. He can't understand when his first grade
2
,teacher, Miss Scalapino, talks in English—which happens pretty much all the time—but there
is a cool caterpillar in a jar, so that's a plus.
Guess what? Panchito's real name is Francisco. Nice to know, isn't it?
Francisco has made a friend named Arthur, who also speaks Spanish, so that's cool, and Mr.
Sims notices that Francisco needs a jacket so he gives him one from the used bin. Yep, he's a
nice guy.
So since all this good stuff is going on, you just know some bad hullabaloo is on the way—
and that bad hullabaloo is called Curtis. You see, Curtis claims the jacket is his and he's
going to fight to get it back. Oh goodie.
The rest of the day pretty much stinks. The only good things are seeing the caterpillar
spinning itself into a cocoon, and that Francisco's parents aren't too mad at him. Phew.
A few days later, Francisco gets a seriously awesome surprise. He'd drawn a butterfly pic
weeks earlier and now Miss Scalapino gives him an award for it. Yay for recognition.
The day just gets better when that cocooned caterpil
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 4 -
Answer✅
Francisco tells us a bit about the place in Santa Maria where he lives. They call it Tent City
because it's a bunch of tents, but it's not exactly it's own city; adding to its charm is the fact
that the city dump is nearby.
Remember how in the last chapter Francisco mentioned that his mom was pregnant? Well
now she's about to pop. But she still spends her days cooking from 4:00AM on so that all
the workers in Tent City get fed, and also finds time to set things up for the new baby.
Sheesh, that woman is one super Mamá.
Francisco and Roberto help out with the cooking and the baby-readying. They even go
dumpster-diving to find wood to make a floor in the tent.
Everyone is seriously stoked when the youngest bro, Juan Manuel, is born. He also gets a
cool nickname: Torito (which means little bull).
But all these newborn good times come to a halt when Torito gets sick. And when we say
sick, we mean knocking on death's door kind of sick. You see, Torito's fever goes from bad
to worse really fast, and before the family knows it his whole body is stiffening up and
they're worried he's dead. Luckily, he gets through the night and starts breathing again, but
overall things aren't looking too great.
3
, Mamá and Papá don't want to take Torito to a hospital, because they don't have money. But
there's a woman in Tent City named Doña María who's got her own ways for curing folks;
she tries rubbing some eggs on Torito's stomach. Sadly he gets stiff again so Mamá and Papá
rush him to the hospital.
While they're gone, Francisco is super scared. He prays for his little bro, but when Mamá
and Papá return Torito is still at the hospital.
He stays there all the next day and Francisco isn't allowed to see him, which stinks. Plus, his
parents are really sad. They even seem almost mad at Francisco, which is pretty confusing.
That night, the
Quiz_________________?
Chapter 5 -
Answer✅
Francisco and his family are back in Corcoran picking cotton; before this they were in
Fowler for grape season.
Here's the thing about Corcoran: it's super rainy. And that means everyone has to stay
inside their cabins. But the best part about staying inside is that Francisco gets to check out
the awesome goldfish that the folks have next door. He and his mom love to look through
their window and watch that little bugger swimming around, so they give it a special name:
el Angel de Oro (a.k.a. The Golden Angel).
Francisco is going to go to a new school now that he's back in Corcoran, and on his first day
he meets a new friend, Miguelito, who also lives in the cotton labor camp.
Miguelito is pretty great, and he and Francisco hang out at the creek behind the cabins and
check out the little fish; Miguelito breaks off branches that they can turn into fishing poles.
It's all going fine and dandy until the next day. When Francisco looks for Miguelito, he and
his whole family have already left the camp.
Francisco doesn't know where they went, which means we don't know either, but one
thing's for sure: losing a friend is a big downer.
Once it stops raining in Corcoran, Francisco notices that the water is drying up and that
means the fish in the puddles are now dying in the mud. He tries to move as many as he can
to the creek, but he leaves one fish in a can outside the cabin with the goldfish. You can
guess where that little grey fish ends up—right in the bowl with the Golden Angel.
Francisco sends his fishing pole down the creek, too.
4
