Napa Valley sees its share of celebrities — but few who owe their fame to autobiographical books.

That changed last week, as Mexican-born author Francisco Jimenez drew capacity crowds and autographed hundreds of books at a half-dozen speaking engagements in Napa and American Canyon.

A soft-spoken college professor who first entered the United States illegally as a child migrant laborer, Jimenez chronicled his family’s story in the books “The Circuit” and “Breaking Through.”

Many Napans have read one or both of the books through the Napa County Reads program, sponsored by the county office of education; while untold thousands of county residents have lived at least a part of the Jimenez family’s struggle to overcome grinding poverty and achieve a better life in the U.S.

“What we’re talking about is the universal immigrant experience to achieve the American dream, and he is the quintessential example,” said county superintendent of schools Barbara Nemko.

“Here is a man who started as a 4-year-old in a migrant labor camp, and is (staying) in Napa at the Meritage Hotel,” Nemko said. “If that isn’t achieving the American dream, I don’t know what is.”

A riveting story

Not only did Jimenez enjoy luxury accommodations during his Napa trip, he was treated like a celebrity during his appearances, with eager listeners filling every seat and lining up for autographs afterward.

From American Canyon Middle School to Napa Valley College, students listened intently as Jimenez spoke of his early years picking crops and missing school, and of the teachers who helped him find his way to higher education.

Standing quietly by, occasionally flashing a broad smile or answering a student’s question, was Jimenez’s older brother Roberto — “my second father” in the author’s words —  the first of six Jimenez children and the only one apart from Francisco to have been born in Mexico.

After crossing the border, the Jimenez family followed the harvest through California, picking cotton and fruit and living in barracks, tents and sheds. When each crop was in, the family packed their few belongings into “La Carcachita,” their old jalopy, and moved on — all too often, just as soon as young Francisco had begun to make new friends and catch up in school.

“We didn’t have any stability. We didn’t have any permanence — just like cardboard boxes,” Jimenez told an attentive crowd of 400 at Redwood Middle School Oct.12.

“The Circuit” ends during his own middle-school years, when the two boys and their mother were deported. They were able to immigrate legally afterward, but the family still lived in poverty while working stoop-labor jobs.

Education was the only way out of the cycle, Jimenez realized. “Breaking Through” — this year’s Napa Valley Reads selection — traces his journey through high school, as he and his brother continued to work full-time to support their family.

To overcome his trouble with English, Jimenez carried a little notebook — librito — to help him memorize words and phrases. At work as a janitor in the evenings, he studied poems he’d copied onto index cards and taped to the handle of his broom.

 “Frankie” also worked hard to fit in with his schoolmates, “attempting to reconcile my Mexican culture with my very new American culture.” That included singing at class talent shows, making friends and successfully running for student body president.

With the help of teachers and counselors, Jimenez was accepted to college with financial aid; today he’s a professor of modern languages and director of ethnic studies at Santa Clara University, an award-winning author, and a sought-after speaker despite his modest stage presence. Students find his story riveting — and for educators, Jimenez is a superstar.

“His message to the kids couldn’t be better if every teacher in Napa got together on a committee and we wrote it,” Nemko said. “School is the way that you achieve the good life.”

   

“All work is noble”

Jimenez had another message for the kids in Napa, and he emphasized it in English at Redwood Middle School and in Spanish at the Napa High School library next day.

“All work is noble,” he told the Redwood students. “All work is valuable.”

But, Jimenez continued, education allows a choice his parents never had. Even though both were highly intelligent, he said, they were uneducated and had to accept the work they could get.

Two generations later, there are four teachers among Roberto and Francisco’s seven children.

Lauren Robinson, a 17-year-old Napa High senior who attended the Spanish-language session on Friday, said afterward that she found Jimenez “very inspiring.”

“I think it’s very important that people understand there is a lot of dignity in working for your family, for those that you love,” Robinson said.

Robinson, who said she dreams in Spanish, had little difficulty following Jimenez as he spoke. For 16-year-old junior Sam Jackson, the experience was more akin to Jimenez’s own early years in school:

“I understood less than half,” Jackson said. But, he added, hearing Jimenez was a valuable enough experience that he’d skipped a band lunch to attend.

The Jimenez brothers’ tour also included Shearer Charter School, Harvest, Robert Louis Stevenson and Silverado middle schools, and Liberty and Chamberlain high schools, along with a packed evening appearance at the Napa City-County Library and a Hispanic Network reception.