Francisco Jiménez, Author
- Bio: Born in 1943 in Tlaquepaque, Mexico; second oldest of eight children; family immigrated to California when he was four to work as migrant farm workers; family moved with the seasons of crops, so he missed months of school every year; family was deported in 2008, but returned legally a few months later; settled in a migrant labor camp in Santa Maria, California; attended Santa Clara University and received a degree in Spanish; became a US Citizen during his junior year; received a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from Columbia University; co-founder of scholarly journal The Bilingual Review; had an elementary school named after him in 2015; received commendations from Congress, the Department of Education, the California State Senate, and the governor of the state of Jalisco, Mexico
- Other Works: La Mariposa (1998); The Christmas Gift (2000); Breaking Through (2002); Reaching Out (2008)
- Awards: The Américas Award for Children and Young Adult Literature (1997); The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction (1998); John and Patricia Beatty Award (1998); American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults (1999)