“This sequel to Breaking Through and The Circuit again brings to the forefront the daily trials of poor immigrant families . . . compelling and honest.”—School Library Journal
 
From the perspective of the young adult he was then, Francisco Jiménez describes the challenges he faced in his efforts to continue his education.
 
During his college years,...

Appointed Earth's ambassador to the universe, twelve-year-old Gabe Fuentes faces two sets of "alien" problems when he discovers his parents are illegal aliens and face deportation and the Earth is in the path of a destructive alien force causing multiple mass extinctions.

Having come from Mexico to California ten years ago, fourteen-year-old Francisco is still working in the fields but fighting to improve his life and complete his education.

Maria tries on her mother's wedding ring while helping make tamales for a Christmas family get together, but panic ensues when hours later, she realizes the ring is missing.

Before she decides whether to accept her stepfather's proposal of adoption, twelve-year-old Adela Ramirez reaches out to her estranged biological father--who is in the midst of a career comeback as a luchador--and the eccentric extended family of wrestlers she has never met, bringing Adela closer to understanding the expansive definition of family.

"Thirteen-year-old Paola Santiago must return to the void to rescue her best friend Dante and face her biggest foe yet : El Cucuy, the lord of nightmares"--

When nineteen-year-old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican American living in a violence-infested neighborhood of Fresno, California.

Sophia knits a special hat for her elderly neighbor and knitting teacher, Mrs. Goldman.

Living on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus with his older brother Alex, a college student and ex-gang member, high school senior Carlos is not ready to give up his wild ways until he meets a shy classmate named Kiara and becomes unwillingly involved in a drug ring.

Seventeen-year-old Xochi's life changed when she became governess to precocious twelve-year-old Pallas, but the duo unintentionally summons a pair of ancient creatures determined to right the wrongs of Xochi's adolescence.