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Gary Soto

Author of Too Many Tamales

96+ Works 11,816 Members 461 Reviews 4 Favorited

About the Author

Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952, and raised in Fresno California. He graduated from Roosevelt High School and attended Fresno City College, graduating in 1974 with an English degree. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including The Nation, Plouqhshares, The Iowa Review, Ontario show more Review and Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in Poets in Person. He is one of the youngest poets to appear in The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Soto has received the Discovery-The Nation Prize, the U.S. Award of the International Poetry Forum, The California Library Association's John and Patricia Beatty Award twice, a Recogniton of Merit from the Claremont Graduate School for Baseball in April, the Silver Medal from The Commonwealth Club of California, and the Tomás Rivera Prize, in addition to fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts twice, and the California Arts Council. For ITVS, he produced the film The Pool Party, which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal. Soto wrote the libretto for an opera titled Nerd-landia for the The Los Angeles Opera. In 1999 he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. He serves as Young People's Ambassador for the California Rural Legal Assistance and the United Farm Workers of America. Soto is the author of ten poetry collections for adults, with New and Selected Poems a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. His recollections Living Up the Street received a Before Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: SOTO GARY, Gary Soto, Gary Soto ed.

Series

Works by Gary Soto

Too Many Tamales (1993) 2,344 copies
Chato's Kitchen (1900) 810 copies
Taking Sides (1991) 715 copies
Buried Onions (1997) 486 copies
The Afterlife (2003) 424 copies
Pacific Crossing (1992) 345 copies
The Skirt (1992) 330 copies
Living Up the Street (1985) 326 copies
Marisol (2005) 316 copies
If the Shoe Fits (2002) 313 copies
Local News: Stories (1993) 286 copies
Accidental Love (1600) 272 copies
Jesse (1994) 269 copies
Chato and the Party Animals (2000) 260 copies
Neighborhood Odes (1992) 255 copies
Novio Boy: A Play (1600) 227 copies
The Old Man and His Door (1996) 193 copies
A Summer Life (1990) 160 copies
Summer on Wheels (1995) 141 copies
Off and Running (1832) 138 copies
Snapshots from the Wedding (1997) 135 copies
The Cat's Meow (1987) 128 copies
Crazy Weekend (1994) 118 copies
Petty Crimes (1998) 115 copies
Partly Cloudy (2009) 99 copies
Facts of Life: Stories (1600) 90 copies
Help Wanted: Stories (1600) 90 copies
Canto Familiar (1867) 74 copies
Chato Goes Cruisin' (2005) 64 copies
Big Bushy Mustache (1998) 54 copies
Nerdlandia (1999) 48 copies
Junior College (1997) 46 copies
My Little Car (2006) 43 copies
Hey, 13! (2011) 34 copies
The Elements of San Joaquin (1977) 31 copies
Who Will Know Us (1990) 30 copies
Local News with Connections (2002) 27 copies
Worlds Apart: Fernie and Me (2005) 24 copies
The Pool Party (1993) 22 copies
Boys at Work (1995) 19 copies
Nickel and Dime (2000) 18 copies
Small Faces (1986) 16 copies
A Natural Man (1999) 16 copies
One Kind of Faith (1777) 15 copies
Lucky Luis (2012) 14 copies
Black Hair (1985) 12 copies
The Tale of Sunlight (1978) 9 copies
Home Course in Religion (1991) 9 copies
Puppy Love (2023) 7 copies
Where Sparrows Work Hard (1981) 7 copies
Poetry Lover (2001) 6 copies
Instant Winner (2013) 5 copies
A Simple Plan (2007) 4 copies
Human Nature (2010) 3 copies
Write Idea (1993) 3 copies
When Dad Came Back (2011) 3 copies
Meatballs for the People (2017) 2 copies
Chato's Day of Dead (2010) 2 copies
Tamales 1 copy
La Bamba 1 copy

Associated Works

Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (2003) — Contributor — 765 copies
Cool Salsa (1994) — Contributor — 298 copies
America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories (1993) — Contributor — 228 copies
The Best American Poetry 2000 (2000) — Contributor — 213 copies
The Best American Poetry 1996 (1996) — Contributor — 169 copies
Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories (1993) — Contributor — 128 copies
Leaving Home: Stories (1997) — Contributor — 116 copies
The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement (1997) — Foreword, some editions — 100 copies
Coming of Age in America: A Multicultural Anthology (1994) — Foreword; Contributor — 94 copies
What You Wish For: A Book for Darfur (2011) — Contributor — 70 copies
The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink (2012) — Cover designer — 63 copies
The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010) — Contributor — 58 copies
Voices in First Person: Reflections on Latino Identity (2008) — Contributor — 38 copies
Going Where I'm Coming from: Memoirs of American Youth (1994) — Contributor — 37 copies
California Uncovered: Stories For The 21st Century (2005) — Contributor — 31 copies
Don't Give Up the Ghost: A Book of Ghost Stories (1993) — Contributor — 29 copies
Help Wanted: Short Stories About Young People Working (1997) — Contributor — 26 copies
Funny You Should Ask (1992) — Contributor — 18 copies
You're On!: Seven Plays in English and Spanish (1999) — Contributor — 17 copies
Condor Dreams and Other Fictions (1994) — Afterword, some editions — 12 copies
Too Many Tamales [2002 film] (2004) — Original book — 1 copy

Tagged

animals (50) anthology (210) baseball (43) bilingual (60) California (71) cats (85) chapter book (92) children's (45) Christmas (246) cooking (75) culture (102) diversity (106) family (239) fiction (580) food (157) friendship (75) grade 6 (40) Hispanic (209) holidays (66) honesty (56) Latino (135) Latinx (101) memoir (39) Mexican (41) Mexican American (79) Mexican Americans (70) Mexico (60) multicultural (316) non-fiction (60) picture book (261) poetry (752) realistic fiction (324) short stories (219) Spanish (231) sports (79) tamales (109) to-read (90) traditions (57) YA (97) young adult (82)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

This book is great for students at a beginner or intermediate reading level. It is about a cat named Chato and his friend Navio Boy, who live together. A family of mice moves in next door, and the cats invite them over for dinner, where they plan traditional Mexican foods such as rice, beans, enchiladas, frijoles, fajitas, and salsa. I would introduce this book to my classroom as a fun read-aloud for my students to learn about Mexican food culture.
 
Flagged
JulianV7 | 26 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
Independent Reading Level: 3rd-5th Grade
Awards: Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choices of 1993
 
Flagged
isabelcleveland | 159 other reviews | Dec 5, 2023 |
A good short story about friendship and sports - basketball. Who shall lose, and who shall win? Sometimes losing is your option, and winning isn't. But how do you win? When you defeat your foes. How do you lose? When your friends lose. But what if, your friends are your foes? Well, that's what you call 'bullshit'.
 
Flagged
qwteb | 4 other reviews | Sep 25, 2023 |
Reading Level: 9-10
 
Flagged
caitlynatkinson | 159 other reviews | May 4, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
96
Also by
32
Members
11,816
Popularity
#1,987
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
461
ISBNs
577
Languages
4
Favorited
4

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