What is Thermal, California

Thermal is where Gonzalez lives at one point with his paternal grandparents and his external family on his father's side. This is where he lives as a child and spies on the apartment next door. It is also the place in which he lives with his mother, father, and brother in the home on top of the garage. Here, at John Kelley Elementary school, he receives his first book from Dolly, learns to love reading, and loses his fear of English. Gonzalez is in the fifth grade in Thermal when he becomes the spelling bee champion. Gonzalez also lives here when his mother begins to get sick, his father tries to teach him to play guitar, and his father catches him wearing fingernail polish.