Gary Soto: New and Selected Poems [Paperback]

Gary Soto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

For over two decades, the award-winning poet and author Gary Soto has been offering his readers a vision that transcends the ordinary, making him one of today's most celebrated Chicano writers. New and Selected Poems includes the best of his seven full-length collections, plus over 23 new poems previously unpublished in book form. From the charged, short-lined poems of Soto's early writing to an unflinching look at poverty and hard labor in California's Central Valley to the off-beat humor in his longer, more recent work, New and Selected Poems is a timely tribute to a brilliant writer whose work confirms the power of the human spirit to survive and soar.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Soto is one of our most accomplished Mexican-American poets under the age of 45. In this collection, poems from six of his previous 13 books (The Tale of Sunlight; Home Course in Religion) and a sampling of new material define a youth of gritty determination and chronicle an ongoing negotiation with God. The earliest pieces, exploring Soto's rite of passage out of the California fields and orchards in which he labored, are still his best work, conveying a connection to land and wind and a desperateness that softens as he finds his way to marriage and a steady paycheck. In Soto's simple, short lines, these poems are as lean and avid as their protagonist, and they gather an impressive force with their quick rhythms and recurrent images: a hand encrusted with dirt, or an orange?its sudden bolt of color and its juice, the poet's manna.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA?Soto's poems, like his novels and short stories, reflect the universality of the human condition as mirrored through his experiences in and strong ties to the Mexican-American community in California. Whether he is reliving a trip to the cemetery, a shopping excursion to the local market, or the nostalgia days of black-and-white TV, he presents each word, each line with power. Soto's language is spare and plain like the people and places he describes. Readers familiar with his short stories that speak of the many boundaries and borders that young people, especially migrants, must cross will recognize similar encounters here. An accessible addition to any contemporary poetry collection or literature class.?Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School Library, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811807584
• ISBN-13: 978-0811807586
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Fresno, California to Mexican American parents, Gary Soto learned the hard work ethic through his share of chores, including mowing lawns, picking grapes, painting house numbers on street curbs, and washing cars. His hard work paid off at California State University at Fresno, from which he graduated with an English degree, and later at the University of California at Irvine, where he earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.Gary Soto is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and fiction writer. The awards for this multi-talented author are many, ranging from the U.S. Award for International Poetry Forum in 1977 for his first published book of poetry, The Elements of San Joaquin, to a Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award in 1985 for Living Up the Street, his first published work of prose recollections. His short story collection Baseball in April, was named an American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults. In 1993 Gary Soto received the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video for Pool Party, and in 1995 he was nominated for a National Book Award.His other credits include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council. Gary Soto is also one of the youngest poets to appear in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Several of his books have been translated into French, Spanish and Italian.Too Many Tamales was named a Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choices of 1993. Hazel Rochman of Booklist said, "Gary Soto is an accomplished poet and adult writer, and his children's stories are widely popular. His first entry into the picture book genre is a joyful success."When he is not writing, Mr. Soto serves as a volunteer English teacher at his church. He also enjoys eating at new restaurants, which he does often with his wife, Carolyn, and their daughter Mariko. Other members of the Soto household include their two cats, Corky and Sharkie. The Soto family resides in Berkeley, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great American poet, March 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gary Soto: New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

I find it sad that Gary Soto has been labeled by some as a "Mexican-American" poet. He is an American poet, or, better yet, a poet. From this book, I'd recommend these poems to be included in the Western canon: "At the All-Night Cafe", "Drinking in the Sixties", "Home Course in Religion", "Oranges", "Some Worry", and "Taking the Movies to the Streets".

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mas poesia, por favor!, September 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Gary Soto: New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

Thanks to Chronicle Books for bringing out Soto's New and Selected Poems! So much of the man's stuff (especially the early stuff that I first fell for - the poems from Where Sparrows Work Hard and The Elements of the San Joaquin) is sadly out of print. But now, here's most of it presented in a thoughtful collection that gives us the best of the past and lets us catch up on the latest.

I love Soto for his heart that beats through every line and for the warm humor that softens the heavy stuff he has to show us. His poems, my students tell me, tell it like it is. His poems, my poet friends tell me, say it like it should be.

I await now the Collected Poems by Gary Soto. Are you listening Chronicle Books?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Trees That Change Our Lives, November 11, 2007

By 

N. Ahmed "day dreamer" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gary Soto: New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

I had resolved to try a new approach to buying books - first borrow them from the library and only buy them if I think I would read them again. I happened on Gary Soto's compilation by chance at the library - and it's the first book I am going to have to buy following my rule.

These are poems that draw you immediately into their world, which they create by the simplest of means - the most telling nouns, the most pungent verbs. It's all here - the child, the outsider, the lover, the starving, the optimistic. These are poems crafted out of a spareness of cloth, a richness of spirit. Poems that continue talking long after they have been laid aside.