Gary Soto

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="21d005a0dvldtc.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>PT3 Readers are Leaders</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0099FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FF3300" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PT3 Readers are Leaders"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sandra Cisneros"><U>Sandra Cisneros</U></A>   |   <B>Gary Soto</B>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nicholasa Mohr"><U>Nicholasa Mohr</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chinua Achebe"><U>Chinua Achebe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="R.K. Narayan"><U>R.K. 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Past the links, I have written a critical analysis of the collection of short stories Living up the Street by Gary Soto, a wonderful book for children as well as adults.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >~ramseyil/soto.htm"</FONT><U>htm</U><A HREF="http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/soto.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/soto.htm"><U><U>http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/soto.htm</U></U></A></div> <div> This site includes biographical information, a bibliography, links, lesson plans, literary criticism and more.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.garysoto.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.garysoto.com/"><U><U>http://www.garysoto.com/</U></U></A></div> <div> This is Gary Soto's official web page, including biographical information, news, and a catalog.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/soto/sototg.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/soto/so"><U><U>http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/soto/sototg.html</U></U></A></div> <div> A teaching unit, developed by teachers in the schools of California Online Resources for Educators Project (SCORE). This unit covers the books Baseball in April and Living in the Street by Gary Soto.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ala.org/booklist/v94/youth/no2/60soto.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ala.org/booklist/v94/youth/no"><U><U>http://www.ala.org/booklist/v94/youth/no2/60soto.html</U></U></A></div> <div> A review of Gary Soto's book Buried Onions from the archives of Booklist magazine, 1997.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.elandar.com/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.elandar.com/index.htm"><U><U>http://www.elandar.com/index.htm</U></U></A></div> <div> A magazine about the Latino/Hispanic culture, including book reviews written by Gary Soto. This on-line version of the magazine is pretty much written for adults, and contains a wealth of information about the culture, as well as news, etc. from the Latino/Hispanic perspective.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter94/Clip_and_file.html#Soto" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN"><U><U>http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter94/Clip_and_file.html#Soto</U></U></A></div> <bR> <div> A list of reviews from the ALAN database, including a review of Gary Soto's collection of short stories entitled Local News.  <B>Search keyword.</B><B> {Gary Soto}</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec./obidos/ASIN/oo64407713/o/qid=961523205/sr=2-1/104-7184135- 1547" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.amazon.com/exec./obidos/ASIN/"><U>http://www.amazon.com/exec./obidos/ASIN/oo64407713/o/qid=961523205/sr=2-1/104-7184135- 1547</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Includes amazon.com editorial reviews and customer reviews of the Gary Soto novel Buried Onions.  <B>Search keyword. {Gary Soto}</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASin/o440211700/o/qid=961523205/sr=2-2/104-7184135-1547141" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASin/o"><U><U>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASin/o440211700/o/qid=961523205/sr=2-2/104-7184135-1547141</U></U></A></div> <bR> <div> Includes amazon.com editorial reviews and a customer review, presumably by a teen.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://travel.lycos.com/Destinations/North_America/USA/California/Fresno/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://travel.lycos.com/Destinations/Nor"><U><U>http://travel.lycos.com/Destinations/North_America/USA/California/Fresno/</U></U></A></div> <div> Lycos travel guide for Fresno California, Gary Soto's hometown. This page has information on local agriculture and nearby</div> <div> tourist areas, as well as hotels, restaurants, etc. in the Fresno area.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://4fresno.4anything.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://4fresno.4anything.com/"><U><U>http://4fresno.4anything.com/</U></U></A></div> <div> Another site devoted to Fresno, California. This one includes tourist and travel information, local color, sports, history and much more.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.kidlink.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.kidlink.org/"><U><U>http://www.kidlink.org/</U></U></A></div> <div> Kidlink is a non-profit organization that links students from all over the United States and the world for classroom projects,pen pals, and other correspondence.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://lycos.mapblast.com/lycosmb/map.mb?CMD=GEO&AD4=US&AD2=AD3=fresno%2c+ca" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://lycos.mapblast.com/lycosmb/map.mb"><U><U>http://lycos.mapblast.com/lycosmb/map.mb?CMD=GEO&AD4=US&AD2=AD3=fresno%2c+ca</U></U></A></div> <div> A city map of Fresno, California.</div> <div> Living up the Street is a collection of short stories by Gary Soto, published in 1985 by the Strawberry Hill Press in San Francisco, California. This book is seemingly autobiographical; the tales of Soto's childhood, growing up in the 1950's and 60's on the poor side of town in Fresno, California. Written in first person perspective, Living in the Street includes relatively easy vocabulary and situations suitable for junior high readers. Although maybe intended for this age group, the book could also be of great interest to high school and adult readers of all ages, especially those who grew up in the same time period. The stories are of children growing up poor, looking for fun things to do in the summertime, struggling through parochial and public schools, and getting into all kinds of mischief.</div> <div> This book seems to have a high empathy level for most readers. Although the characters are Mexican American, the themes of the stories include universal American experiences: playing with the neighborhood kids, the trials of adolescence,church, baseball, trying to find one's place in the world, etc. In the first few stories, Soto writes very colorful stories about his early childhood, getting in trouble with his brothers and sister, looking for odd jobs, and the untimely death of his father. While all kids have not had these exact experiences, most can relate to something in these stories.</div> <div> Soto's writing style is somewhat stream of consciousness, beginning with the situation of a particular memory, then letting the story flow. In the book's first story, "Being Mean", he sets the stage for the memories of childhood mischief by describing the streets, where factories, businesses, and houses were located. This allows the readers to construct a makeshift map in their minds, a place for the action to happen, much like the backdrop or setting in a play. He describes events with the enthusiasm of a young child, channeling into his past to bring out exactly how he felt and reacted to these childhood scenes.</div> <div> Later in the book, with the story "The Small Faces", Soto writes of volunteering as a teenager at the elementary school in his family's old neighborhood, four miles away from where he lived at the time. He lists the streets he passed during each walk that summer several times in the story, giving the reader a feeling of actually being there, in his memory. These writing techniques are very powerful in engaging the reader.</div> <div> Living up the Street is a truly wonderful book.. The universal themes combined with Latino culture in this book could lead to a number of very fruitful lesson plans for teachers throughout the United States. Books like this one allow students to realize the similarities in different cultures, while showing the differences in a positive, interesting text. Students need to realize that we are all alike in some ways, but that each culture has distinctive and interesting differences.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>