Most Popular Books by Gary Soto

A collection of the author''s reminiscences in prose.

An exuberant celebration of everyday life from an award-winning team.

In a prose that is so beautiful it is poetry, we see the world of growing up and going somewhere through the dust and heat of Fresno''s industrial side and beyond: It is a boy''s coming of age in the barrio, parochial school, attending church, public summer school, and trying to fall out of love so he can join in a Little League baseball team. His is a clarity that rings constantly through the warmth and wry reality of these sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, always human remembrances.

For fans of Gary Soto and Matt de la Peña comes a tale of a contemporary Mexican-American family with a "spunky and imaginative heroine" (Publishers Weekly). Miata Ramirez is scared and upset. The skirt she brought to show off at school is gone. She brought her forklorico skirt to show off at school and left it on the bus. It’s not just any skirt. This skirt belonged to Miata’s mother when she was a child in Mexico. On Sunday, Miata and her dance group are supposedgoing to dance forklorico, or traditional Mexican folk dances; and that kind of dancing requires a skirt like the one Miata lost. It’s Friday afternoon. Miata doesn’ t want her parents to know she’s lost something again. Can she find a way to rescue the precious skirt in time? With its focus on family ties, friendship, and ethnic pride and Includes an afterword from its acclaimedthe author, The Skirt is a story that children everywhere will relate to and be inspired by, no matter their background. "A light, engaging narrative that successfully combines information on Hispanic culture with familiar and recognizable childhood themes....A fine read-aloud and discussion starter, this story blends cultural differences with human similarities to create both interest and understanding."—SLJ “Light, easy reading . . . offering readers a cast and situations with which to identify, whatever their own ethnic origins.”—The Bulletin "Soto''s light tale offers a pleasant blend of family ties, friendship and ethnic pride...[and Miata is] a spunky and imaginative heroine."—Publishers Weekly

Gary Soto writes that when he was five "what I knew best was at ground level." In this lively collection of short essays, Soto takes his reader to a ground-level perspective, resreating in vivid detail the sights, sounds, smells, and textures he knew growing up in his Fresno, California, neighborhood. The "things" of his boyhood tie it all together: his Buddha "splotched with gold," the taps of his shoes and the "engines of sparks that lived beneath my soles," his worn tennies smelling of "summer grass, asphalt, the moist sock breathing the defeat of basesall." The child''s world is made up of small things--small, very important things.

On the mean streets of southeast Fresno, 19-year-old Eddie is just trying to get by. All he wants is to forget his violent past, hold down a job, and walk a straight line. But after his cousin''s murder, Eddie finds himself drawn back into the cycle of violence.

A senior at East Fresno High School lives on as a ghost after his brutal murder in the restroom of a club where he had gone to dance.

This modern classic celebrates the tradition of tamales and family bonding at Christmas. Christmas Eve started out so perfectly for Maria. Snow had fallen and the streets glittered. Maria''s favorite cousins were coming over and she got to help make the tamales for Christmas dinner. It was almost too good to be true when her mother left the kitchen for a moment and Maria got to try on her beautiful diamond ring . . . This is the story of a treasure thought to be lost in a batch of tamales; of a desperate and funny attempt by Maria and her cousins to eat their way out of trouble; and the warm way a family pulls together to make it a perfect Christmas after all. Also available in Spanish as ¡Qué montón de tamales!

From "Worry at the end of the month" to "Good morning, Fresno," Soto writes of the Chicano experience and of life as all live it.

"Another first-rate collection from a perceptive and sensitive chronicler of ordinary life".--Horn Book, starred review. Set in a Mexican-American barrio, these 13 brilliant short stories offer rich insights into the Hispanic community--and deal with issues all young people can appreciate.

Chato decides to throw a "pachanga" for his friend Novio Boy, who has never had a birthday party, but when it is time to party, Novio Boy cannot be found.

Misunderstanding his wife''s instructions, an old man sets out for a party with a door on his back.

The Spanish translation of the modern holiday classic Too Many Tamales! La mamá de María prepara un montón de tamales para celebrar la nochebuena. María le ayuda a prepararlos pero se prueba el anillo de su madre y lo pierde en la masa. Sin decirles a los adultos lo que ha ocurrido, María y sus jóvenes parientes tratan de encontrarlo comiéndose todos los tamales. * "Una historia graciosa, llena de deliciosas sorpresas . . . un éxito encantador"--Libro recomendado, Booklist * "Una conmovedora historia familiar en la que se combinan unas ilustraciones brillantes con una historia bien contada sobre el dilema de una niña."--Libro recomendado, School Library Journal

National Book Award finalist Gary Soto presents a collection of 40 new poems that will bring a wry smile of recognition to anyone who has endured the misguided realities of childhood and adolescence.

Gary Soto is a widely published author of children''s and young adult fiction, and he is an acclaimed poet--often referred to as one of the nation''s first Chicano poets. With a sharp sense of storytelling and a sly wit, What Poets Are Like is a memoir of the writing life that shares the keen observation, sense of self and humor of such writers as Sherman Alexie and Nora Ephron. In some 60 short episodes, this book captures moments of a writer''s inner and public life, close moments with friends and strangers, occasional reminders of a poet''s generally low place in the cultural hierarchy; time spent with cats; the curious work of writing. He tells the stories of his time spent in bookstores and recounts the glorious, then tragic, arc of Cody''s Bookstore in Berkeley, ending with the author whose scheduled event fell on the day after the business shut down, but who stood outside the locked door and read aloud just the same. As all writers do, Soto suffers the slings and arrows of rejection, often from unnamed Midwest poetry journals, and seeks the solace of a friendly dog at such moments. Soto jabs at the crumbs of reward available to writers--a prize nomination here, a magazine interview there--and notes the toll they take on a frail ego. The pleasure Soto takes in the written word, a dose of comic relief plus his appreciation of the decisive moment in life make this an engaging and readable writer''s confession.

Two Mexican American brothers hope that junior college will help them escape their heritage of tedious physical labor.

Eight-year-old Nicole, who is part Mexican, is amazed when her cat Pip starts speaking in Spanish.

Maya, the flower girl, describes a Mexican American wedding through snapshots of the day''s events, beginning with the procession to the altar and ending with her sleeping after the dance.

"Fourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood" -- Title page verso.