Breaking Through

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. What is the Spanish term Panchito uses to refer to the immigration officers?

2. When he is in eighth grade, Panchito is removed from school by immigration officers. What quintessential American text is he about to recite for the class before he is whisked away?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. As shown in Chapters 1-3, what are some of the virtues emphasized within the Jiménez family? Cite evidence from the text.

2. Adversity builds resilience in the Jiménez family. What is one example of this in this section of the book?

Paired Resource

“Francisco Jiménez”

• In 2017, the Pacific Conservatory Theatre put on a play adaptation of Breaking Through. In this brief video, author Francisco Jiménez visits the play’s cast. He discusses some of the reasons he wrote the book and the larger messaging that he hopes will transfer from the book to the performance.
• Jiménez mentions that one of the book’s core premises is to promote justice and a more inclusive society.
• What messages does the author (or the playwright) communicate in this video that spark your interest? What do you think are some of the challenges of adapting a book like Breaking Through into a play? How does this relate to the novel’s theme of Rage Fueled by Injustice?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 4, Papa seeks out an alleged “cure” from what alternative healing practitioner?

2. What destroys that season’s strawberry plants in Chapter 5?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What makes Roberto a secondary father figure for Panchito?

2. As Panchito prepares to leave the house for his middle school graduation ceremony in Chapter 5, he experiences a memorable moment with Papa. What is the moment and why is it significant?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. What is Papa’s hourly pay for strawberry picking?

2. While most boys at Santa Monica High School wear blue jeans to school, what kind of pants does Panchito wear in Chapter 8?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Papa’s mental health negatively impacted in Chapter 8?

2. How does Panchito’s education lead to questioning cultural norms within the Jiménez family?

Paired Resource

“From the Fields to the Classroom: Inside the Lives of US Agriculture’s Youngest Workers”

• An article from NBC News that describes the everyday lives of the Aguilar sisters—two Mexican migrants who live in Arizona—who must balance the rigors of farmwork with the challenges of high school.
• The sisters find comfort from the difficulties of migrant life in their Solidarity of Family and Community and The Value of Spirituality and Faith—much like Panchito and the Jiménez family many years before them.
• The Aguilar sisters’ story is from 2020. How does their experience of high school compare with Panchito’s in the 1950s? Would you characterize it as better, worse, or the same?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. How does Papa feel about not being able to pay the rent on time in Chapter 10?

2. How does Panchito secure a typewriter in Chapter 11 so that he can practice for his typing class?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Miss Bell is a prominent figure in Chapter 12. How is she a mentor to Panchito?

2. How is Panchito’s work ethic displayed in Chapters 10-12? Where does this work ethic come from?

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. Panchito and Roberto must follow a strict schedule. How many nights per week are they allowed out to socialize?

2. What kind of vehicle does Roberto teach Panchito to drive?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Roberto’s relationship with Susan make Panchito have an epiphany that his former friend, Peggy, had stopped seeing him due to prejudice against Mexican immigrants?

2. What are some of the cultural differences between Panchito and his white classmates that come up in Chapters 13-15?

Paired Resource

“What Does Latino Parenting Styles Look Like Today?”

• In this article, Salud America! examines trends in modern Latino parenting styles. Salud America! is a national Latino-focused organization aiming to enrich the lives of Latino children and families.
• Regardless of changes in parenting styles over the years within the Latino community, building strong community and family structures remain as important in modern times as it did in Panchito’s day. How does this relate to the novel’s theme of Solidarity of Family and Community?
• As reported in this article, what are some of the key differences between modern parenting styles and Papa/Mama’s way of parenting Panchito and the Jiménez kids?

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. What is the purpose of the Squires Club?

2. What teacher inspires Panchito’s interest in politics in his junior year, as described in Chapter 17? Provide the name and the subject they teach.

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Papa and Mama’s attitudes toward the family’s circumstances become opposites in Chapters 16-18? What effect does this have on Panchito?

Chapters 19-21

Reading Check

1. What school office position does Paul Takagi, one of Panchito’s closest friends his junior year, intend to run for?

2. Papa notes that Roberto’s girlfriend, Darlene, bears a striking resemblance to a Mexican movie star. Who is this star?

3. In Chapter 21, Panchito is zapped of all energy. He soon learns that he has contracted what virus?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the moment when Panchito learns he has been elected class president in Chapter 19. How is this moment one of mixed emotions for him?

Paired Resource

“For Many Migrants Trekking to the US, Faith Is Their Compass”

• In this article, Reuters explores how many Latino immigrants use faith (often Roman Catholic and other branches of Christianity) to propel them in the often-challenging journey to the US.
• Reuters explains how many immigrants from Latin America use The Value of Spirituality and Faith as a primary source of support—often the only source of unwavering support, much like Mama’s faith—to get them through difficult times.
• Immigrants from all over Latin America, as described in this article, seem to gravitate toward faith as a motivating force. Which of their comments remind you of Mama? In what way?

Chapters 22-25

Reading Check

1. With the help of Miss Penney, Panchito applies to what university?

2. Panchito earns several scholarships, thanks to his excellent academic record. What was his GPA?

3. As a parting gift before he leaves for university, Mama buys Panchito clothing from what department store?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 22, at lunch with the school principal at the Rotary Club, Panchito looks out the window and sees a gardener whose “face was dark and weather-beaten.” Who does the gardener remind Panchito of? What is the tragic dichotomy of this moment?

Recommended Next Reads

Reaching Out by Francisco Jiménez

• Published in 2008, Reaching Out is the follow-up to Breaking Through and the third and final book in Jiménez’s series of autobiographical memoirs for young adults.
• In his retelling of his family’s experiences as undocumented migrants from Mexico and being a first-generation American, Jiménez touches on themes of Rage Fueled by Injustice and The Value of Spirituality and Faith.
• Continuing in his journey toward adulthood, Jiménez builds on many of the same topics from Breaking Through in Reaching Out.
• Reaching Out on SuperSummary.com

Cajas de Carton by Francisco Jiménez

• Published in 1999, Cajas de Carton—titled The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child in the English translation—is a collection of 12 intertwined short stories, all told from the perspective of Panchito who is the child of migrant farm workers. As they move from one camp to the next, Panchito’s family endures poverty but also great faith and hope.
• Cajas de Carton is the first in Jiménez’s series of autobiographical memoirs for young adults and, as such, establishes many of the themes that are expanded upon in Breaking Through.
• In addition to themes of Rage Fueled by Injustice and The Value of Spirituality and Faith, many of the characters in Cajas de Carton continue as prominent figures in Breaking Through—adding an extra layer to the importance of Solidarity of Family and Community.
• Cajas de Carton (The Circuit) on SuperSummary.com