A Summer Life by Gary Soto

A Summer Life

Mass Market

Gary Soto

Random House Children's Books · Paperback · August 1, 1991

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.

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Who it’s for
Soto makes childhood vivid through the textures, sounds, and smells of everyday things.
Themes
Childhood memories, Neighborhood life, Sensory details
Genres
Cultural Heritage Lives, Hispanic & Latino U.S. History for Teens, Family

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About this book

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.

Continue reading

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.

Small Things, Close Up

Soto makes childhood vivid through the textures, sounds, and smells of everyday things.

Come here for

  • Ground-level memories of a Fresno neighborhood
  • Shoes, sparks, and other small details with surprising weight

Expect

  • A lively collection of short essays
  • Sensory writing attentive to the ordinary

Where it sits

Hispanic & Latino U.S. History for Teens74%
Family53%
Cultural Heritage Lives51%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Cultural Heritage Lives
  • Family
  • Hispanic & Latino U.S. History for Teens
Authors
Gary Soto
Publisher
Random House Children's Books
Published
August 1, 1991
Format
Paperback
Theme
Childhood memories · Neighborhood life · Sensory details
Reading lane
Cultural Heritage Lives