Gary Soto - Free Library Land Online - Autobiography

Neighborhood Odes

Sun, 15 Nov 1992 14:56:30 +0200

Puppy Love

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 16:10:37 +0300

A sweetly humorous middle grade novel packed with action, basketball, and a dash of magical realism about friendship and family, first crushes, and belonging, from acclaimed author Gary Soto.

Thirteen-year-old Jordan Mendoza has a huge crush on his classmate, Sierra, but he's never going to win her affections if he stays a C student and keeps embarrassing himself on the basketball court. And it doesn't help that his best friend, Antonio, likes to tease him about it all a little too much.

But when Jordan dives into the waters of a dangerous irrigation canal to save a drowning puppy, he's suddenly got even more on his mind than kissing Sierra and making the starting team. Can he nurse the abandoned puppy back to health (and will his parents let him keep her)? Who threw her into the canal—and is it possible that there are more puppies needing rescue? And why are the cops suddenly at Jordan's door, looking for him?

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When Dad Came Back

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 02:02:16 +0200

What happens when the dad you don't know suddenly invades your life?

Accidental Love

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 02:02:15 +0200

It all starts when Marisa picks up the wrong cell phone. When she returns it to Rene, she feels curiously drawn to him. But Marisa and Rene aren't exactly a match made in heaven. For one thing, Marisa is a chola; she's a lot of girl, and she's not ashamed of it. Skinny Rene gangles like a sackful of elbows and wears a calculator on his belt. In other words, he's a geek. So why can't Marisa stay away from him? Includes a glossary of Spanish words and phrases.

Mercy on These Teenage Chimps

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:02:15 +0200

On his thirteenth birthday, Ronnie woke up feeling like a chimp—all long armed, big eared, and gangly. Now his best friend, Joey, has turned thirteen, too—and after Joey humiliates himself in front of a cute girl, he climbs a tree and refuses to come down. So Ronnie sets out to woo the girl on Joey's behalf. After all, teenage chimps have to stick together.

The Afterlife

Thu, 31 Oct 1996 02:02:16 +0200

You'd think a knife in the ribs would be the end of things, but for Chuy, that's when his life at last gets interesting. He finally sees that people love him, faces the consequences of his actions, finds in himself compassion and bravery . . . and even stumbles on what may be true love.A funny, touching, and wholly original story by one of the finest authors writing for young readers today.

The Pool Party

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 02:02:15 +0200

Rudy Herrera is surprised and excited when he gets an invitation to a pool party. It's from Tiffany Perez, the richest and most popular girl in school.

Rudy's grandmother, "El Shorty," thinks he is going off to shoot pool. His sister, Estela, warns him not to make a fool of himself, or worse, embarass her. Rudy's father teaches him how to make small talk and tells him Tiffany will like him because he's a real person, not a phony.

All Rudy cares about is what to wear, what kinds of dives to do, and what to bring Tiffany. When the big day arrives, Rudy is in high spirits. Will he make a big splash at the pool party?

From Grandfather "El Shorty" to Little Rudy, the Herreras are a family who not only live and work together, but love and enjoy one another. Gary Soto, poet and storyteller, gives young readers a story of simple pleasures, simply told and simply wonderful.

Why I Don't Write Children's Literature

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:02:16 +0200

The beloved writer returns to entertain in a fresh collection of essays

Instant Winner

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:02:15 +0200

The Skirt

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:02:15 +0200

Miata has left the beautiful folkl¾rico skirt her mother wore in Mexico on the bus. She was going to wear the skirt on Sunday when her dance group performed folkl¾rico. Can Miata and her friend Ana rescue the precious skirt in time? A warm-hearted story about a contemporary Mexican-American family.

Partly Cloudy

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 02:02:15 +0200

A poignant, humorous collection by acclaimed poet Gary SotoThe fleeting emotions of teenagers, as changeable as the weather, ring true in these emotionally resonant poems. Told from the point of view of both boys and girls, narrators of various ethnicities fall in love for the first time, pine over crushes, and brood over broken hearts. Tender, lighthearted, and surprising, this collection will capture teens, tweens, and anyone who remembers what it's like to be a young person in love.

Help Wanted

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 02:02:16 +0200

With real wit and heart, Gary Soto takes readers into the lives of young people in ten funny, heartbreaking tales.Meet Carolina, who writes to Miss Manners for help not just with etiquette but with bigger messes in her life; Javier, who knows the stories his friend Veronica tells him are lies, but can't find a way to prove it—and many other kids, each caught up in the difficulties of figuring out what it means to be alive.

A Summer Life

Sun, 31 Oct 1999 02:02:16 +0300

Richly poetic, Gary Soto's "sudden fiction" entertains with tales of growing Chicano in California's Central Valley.

Living Up the Street

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:02:16 +0200

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.