Most Popular Books by Gary Soto

A hard-hitting short story collection takes a hard look at teens and preteens on the edge.

"Chato and Novio win a cruise but are disappointed to find that everyone else on board is a dog, and things go from bad to worse when the dogs party themselves sick and it is up to the cats to find help."--Title page verso

What do Gaby Lopez, Michael Robles, and Cynthia Rodriguez have in common? These three kids join other teens and tweens in Gary Soto''s new short story collection, in which the hard-knock facts of growing up are captured with humor and poignance. Filled with annoying siblings, difficult parents, and first loves, these stories are a masterful reminder of why adolescence is one of the most frustrating and fascinating times of life.

Teresa loves to show off her shiny, new, pedal-powered lowrider car from Grandpa, but the toy soon looks old when she neglects it.

We met these spirited best friends in Fearless Fernie, and now they''re taking on the world! From boxing a kangaroo in Australia to craving Mexican food in Taiwan, or riding a runaway camel in Egypt and eating cheese as holey and smelly as their socks in Switzerland, the globe is their imaginary playground. Gary Soto''s accessible and humorous poems will elicit nods of recognition and bursts of laughter as readers enjoy this outrageous jaunt around the world. Praise for Fearless Fernie: Hanging Out With Fernie and Me

El autor, nacido en California y de ascendencia mexicana, con varias obras publicadas, escribe especialmente sobre los mexicano-americanos. Este entretenido libro, dirigido especialmente a niños entre los seis y los ocho años, hará reír y gozar a los pequeños con la divertida historia que relata los pormenores que ocurren cuando un hombre anciano no escucha a su mujer. La mujer, quién se dirige hacia la barbacoa le pide a su marido le traiga el puerco, el cuál será asado para luego ser degustado como plato principal. El anciano confundido, reflexiona preguntándose a sí mismo el por qué su mujer le habrá pedido que le lleve la puerta, y sin más toma la toma en lugar del cerdo y se la lleva a su esposa. La obra está deliciosamente ilustrada y muestra como los errores pueden transformarse en hechos divertidos.

Hector and Mando, two Chicano seventh graders from East Los Angeles, visit Hector''s uncle in Fresno and find plenty of excitement after they witness a robbery and are chased by the dim-witted criminals.

A hip, funny, Latino rendition of Grease, this play features three cool muchachos who come to the aid of Martin, a chicano nerd who loves a beautiful, popular girl, Ceci, from afar.With the help of his friends, Martin changes his miage and impresses Ceci and her friends, without letting on who he is. This is a problem for Ceci, because, in the meantime, she''s transformed herself into a Chicana nert to win the heard of her secret love--Martin. A totally modern, totally cool tale of teenage romance.

A collection of poetry by Chicano poet Gary Soto.

At age thirteen, best friends Ronnie and Joey suddenly feel like chimps--long armed, big eared, and gangly--and when the coach humiliates Joey in front of a girl, he climbs up a tree and refuses to come down.

¡Viva la causa! ¡Viva César Chávez! Up and down the San Joaquin Valley of California, and across the country, people chanted these words. Cesar Chavez, a migrant worker himself, was helping Mexican Americans work together for better wages, for better working conditions, for better lives. No one thought they could win against the rich and powerful growers. But Cesar was out to prove them wrong -- and that he did.

In this new collection of poems, Gary Soto once again displays his impressive poetic range- funny, sad, urbane, nave. He digs deeply into his California hometown of Fresno and explores the wonder of the everyday in an ever-shifting world. In Soto''s poems, precocious Berkeley dogs practice feng shui, raisins march out of a factory under the nose of the night watchman, and shirts are ironed "with the steam of Mother''s hate." In the darker second part of the collection, Soto offers 12 "film treatments for David Lynch." What skincrawling delight Lynch could conjure with the tightwad furniture salesmen who meets his death in a pool "blue as toilet wash." Then, back from the brink, Soto presents in the final section a single long poem as graceful and meditative as anything he''s written to date.One Kind of Faithconfirms Gary Soto''s immense talent and will bring his voice to an even wider audience.

At Little League, Luis is catching fly balls, stealing bases, and hitting like a champ. But there is a problem: he thinks he''s getting good luck from the snacks he samples at the supermarket before every game. Then one day his mom goes directly to the field and he has a horrible practice. The day she skips the stop at the store before a game, he strikes out twice. Luckily, Luis''s father understands and convinces him that practice and concentration matter much more than any superstition.

A collection of poems about childhood.

A chorus of essays from a variety of voices, backgrounds, and experiences, exploring what it means to be human and true to yourself. What does it mean to be yourself? To be born here or somewhere else? To be from one family instead of another? What does it mean to be human? Collected by Lori Carlson-Hijuelos, A Path to the World showcases essays by a vast variety of luminaries—from Gary Soto to Nawal Nasrallah to Ying Ying Yu, from chefs to artists to teens to philosophers to politicians (keep your eyes peeled for a surprise appearance by George Washington)—all of which speak to the common thread of humanity, the desire to be your truest self, and to belong. Contributors include: Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos, Joseph Bruchac, Jacinto Jesús Cardona, William Sloane Coffin, Pat Conroy, Mario Cuomo, Timothy Egan, Alan Ehrenhalt, Shadi Feddin, Ralph Fletcher, Valerie Gribben, Alexandre Hollan, Molly Ivins, Geeta Kothari, Jeremy Lee, Yuyi Li, Emily Lisker, Kamaal Majeed, Madge McKeithen, Nawal Nasrallah, Scott Pitoniak, Anna Quindlen, Michael J. Sandel, Raquel Sentíes, David E. Skaggs, Gary Soto, Alexandra Stoddard, KellyNoel Waldorf, George Washington, and Ying Ying Yu.

Inspired by Shakespeare, an award-winning poet creates “smart, surprising and affecting [poetry] . . . Poems that are easy to read and difficult to forget” (David Scott Kastan, Yale University). In his engaging new collection, National Book Award finalist Gary Soto creates poems that each begin with a line from Shakespeare and then continue in Soto’s fresh and accessible verse. Drawing on moments from the sonnets, Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and others, Soto illuminates aspects of the source material while taking his poems in directions of their own, strategically employing the color of “thee” and “thine,” kings, thieves, and lovers. The results are inspired, by turns meditative, playful, and moving, and consistently fascinating for the conversation they create between the bard’s time and language and our own here and now. “I read Gary Soto’s poems with delight. There’s no one I know, certainly in this language, who writes like him.” —Gerald Stern, National Book Award–winning poet “Soto insists on the possibility of a redemptive power, and he celebrates the heroic, quixotic capacity for survival in human beings and the natural world.” —Publishers Weekly “Gary Soto is a consummate storyteller . . . Intelligent, funny, and bitingly honest. He is also a craftsman, a master of metaphor and simile, his language capable of dazzling somersaults.” —Martin Espada, National Book Award–winning poet “Shakespeare’s words are never more alive than when they are being seized upon, twisted, remade and made anew. Gary Soto, a brilliant recycler, has laden his ship with old gold. Himself a brilliant recycler, Shakespeare might well have been pleased.” —The Norton Shakespeare

Soon he discovers that he is in his office at a Baptist college in the Simi Valley of Southern California, a place that is familiar to many Americans as the home of many of the jurors who tried and convicted Rodney King in the 1990s. Silver has become a professor of English! Moreover, as he soon discovers to his horror, he is having an affair with the wife of the college president. And someone seems to be selling drugs on campus and Silver seems to be involved though he doesn''t know how."--BOOK JACKET.

In order to look more like his father, Ricky borrows a mustache from a school costume, but when he loses it on the way home his father comes up with a replacement.

Marisol Luna is a lively 10-year-old girl who was born to dance. She''s a fourth-grader who lives with her loving parents in a busy and largely Hispanic neighborhood in the heart of Chicago. Marisol goes to school (where she is a Two-Square champion) takes care of her cat, plays with the kids in her neighborhood, and takes dance lessons. Ballet folkl--rico (Mexican folkdance) is her favorite type of dance--and where she really shines--but she''s been exposed to some jazz and a little tap. She''s also taking ballet, but she''s new to it and a little impatient with its rigors. Her attitude towards ballet changes only slightly when she meets a wonderful new neighbor. Miss Mendoza is a former Rockette who gently reminds Marisol that ballet is worth working hard at, because it''s the basis for all serious dance. The upsetting news that her family is moving out to the suburbs is made worse when Marisol learns that the dance studio in her new neighborhood has closed. No tap, no ballet folkl--rico--not even ballet. She may have to take karate lessons! Instead, with the help of new friends, resourceful Marisol finds a way to keep dancing.

This inspiring story of Jessie De La Cruz, the United Farmer Workers, and la Causa is told as only Gary Soto—novelist, essayist, poet, and himself a field laborer during his teens—can tell it, with respect, empathy, and deep compassion for the working poor. A field worker from the age of five, Jessie knew poverty, harsh working conditions, and the exploitation of Mexicans and all poor people. Her response was to take a stand. She joined the fledgling United Farm Workers union and, at Cesar Chavez''s request, became its first woman recruiter. She also participated in strikes, helped ban the crippling short-handle hoe, became a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, testified before the Senate, and met with the Pope. Jessie''s life story personalizes an historical movement and shows teens how an ordinary woman became extraordinary through her will to make change happen, not just for herself but for others.

An original novella from award-winning children''s author and poet Gary Soto Jason Rodriguez is a twelve-year-old who never had much luck—until he wins $3,700 in the lottery and becomes an Instant Winner! Jason can''t believe he''s won the lottery and decides he will use the money to get his crazy Uncle Mike out of jail. That''s where the real adventure begins.

In this unique collection of short stories, the small events of daily life reveal big themeslove and friendship, youth and growing up, success and failure. Calling on his own experiences of growing up in California''s Central Valley, poet Gary Soto brings to life the joys and pains of young people everywhere. The smart, tough, vulnerable kids in these stories are Latino, but their dreams and desires belong to all of us. En esta excepcional coleccin de cuentos, los pequeos acontecimientos de la vida diaria revalan grandes temas: el mor y la amistad, la juventud y el crecimiento, el xito y el fracaso. Partiendo su propia experiencia de haber crecido en California, el poeta chicano Gary Soto recrea las alegras y tristezas de los jvenes de todas partes. Los listos, duros y vulnerables chinos de estos cuentos son latinos, pero sus sueos y deseos son los mismos de todo el mundo.

An expanded version of "A Fire in My Hands," Gary''s Soto''s acclaimed collection of poems about growing up Latino, now in paperback.

When they learn that Rudy Herrera and Alex Garcia, two fifth-grade class clowns, plan to run against them in the school elections, Miata and her friend Ana know that they face a difficult race.

When Miata leaves on the school bus the skirt that she is to wear in a dance performance, she needs all her wits to get it back without her parents'' finding out that she has lost something yet again.

Hector and his best friend Mondo enjoy many exciting adventures when they take a six-day bike trip from their East Los Angeles neighborhood to the Santa Monica beach during summer vacation.