This modern classic celebrates the tradition of tamales and family bonding at Christmas.

Christmas Eve started out so perfectly for Maria. Snow had fallen and the streets glittered. Maria's favorite cousins were coming over and she got to help make the tamales for Christmas dinner. It was almost too good to be true when her mother left the kitchen for a moment and Maria got to try on her beautiful diamond ring . . .

This is the story of a treasure thought to be lost in a batch of tamales; of a desperate and funny attempt by Maria and her cousins to eat their way out of trouble; and the warm way a family pulls together to make it a perfect Christmas after all.

Also available in Spanish as Qu mont n de tamales

Lincoln is in a jam when his basketball team at his new school--where the students are rich and mostly white--faces his old team from the barrio on the boards. How can he play his best against his friends? No matter who wins, it looks like it will be lose-lose for Lincoln.

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.

Chato can't believe his luck. Not only is he the coolest low-riding cat in East L.A., but his brand-new neighbors are the plumpest, juciest, tastiest-looking family of mice to move into the barrio in a long time. So Chato and his best friend, Novio Boy, get out the pots and pans, the tortillas and the beans--everything you'd need for a welcoming feast, except for the main dish, and the guests of honor. Of course, in Chato's mind they are one and the same thing.

But the mice are bringing a surprise guest of their own, who may be more than a cool cat can swallow.

Also available in Spanish as Chato y su cena.

Ninth grader Rudy has a date with eleventh grader Patricia. Now he has to come up with the money, the poise, and the conversation to carry it off. This one-act play, by turns heartwarming and heart-wrenching, follows Rudy from his desperate search for guidance through the hilarious date itself--all the way to its happy conclusion.

Includes a glossary of Spanish phrases.

Eddie's father, two uncles, and best friend are all dead, and it's a struggle for him not to end up the same way. Violence makes Fresno wallow in tears, as if a huge onion were buried beneath the city. Making an effort to walk a straight line despite constant temptations and frustrations, Eddie searches for answers--and discovers that his closest friends may actually be his worst enemies.
Includes a reader's guide and a glossary of Spanish words and phrases.

The Spanish translation of the modern holiday classic Too Many Tamales!

La mamá de María prepara un montón de tamales para celebrar la nochebuena. María le ayuda a prepararlos pero se prueba el anillo de su madre y lo pierde en la masa. Sin decirles a los adultos lo que ha ocurrido, María y sus jóvenes parientes tratan de encontrarlo comiéndose todos los tamales.

* Una historia graciosa, llena de deliciosas sorpresas . . . un éxito encantador--Libro recomendado, Booklist

* Una conmovedora historia familiar en la que se combinan unas ilustraciones brillantes con una historia bien contada sobre el dilema de una niña.--Libro recomendado, School Library Journal

This modern classic celebrates the tradition of tamales and family bonding at Christmas.

Christmas Eve started out so perfectly for Maria. Snow had fallen and the streets glittered. Maria's favorite cousins were coming over and she got to help make the tamales for Christmas dinner. It was almost too good to be true when her mother left the kitchen for a moment and Maria got to try on her beautiful diamond ring . . .

This is the story of a treasure thought to be lost in a batch of tamales; of a desperate and funny attempt by Maria and her cousins to eat their way out of trouble; and the warm way a family pulls together to make it a perfect Christmas after all.

Also available in Spanish as Qu mont n de tamales

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.

In Gary Soto's acclaimed short story collection, the small events of daily life reveal big themes--love and friendship, youth and growing up, success and failure.

Calling on his own experiences of growing up in California's Central Valley, Soto brings to life the joy and pain of young people everywhere.

From crooked teeth, ponytailed girls, and embarrassing grandfathers to annoying brothers, Little League tryouts, and karate lessons, Soto writes about everyday life with humor and empathy. This moving collection--an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Booklist Editors' Choice, and Horn Book Fanfare Selection--expresses the truths of growing up.

[Soto's] sensitivity to young people's concerns and his ability to portray the world as it is perceived by children is nothing less than remarkable. --Los Angeles Times Book Review

Plus don't miss Gary Soto's Local News, which The Horn Book called a first-rate collection from a perceptive and sensitive chronicler of ordinary life.

In this unique collection of short stories, the small events of daily life reveal big themeslove and friendship, youth and growing up, success and failure. Calling on his own experiences of growing up in California's Central Valley, poet Gary Soto brings to life the joys and pains of young people everywhere. The smart, tough, vulnerable kids in these stories are Latino, but their dreams and desires belong to all of us. En esta excepcional coleccin de cuentos, los pequeos acontecimientos de la vida diaria revalan grandes temas: el mor y la amistad, la juventud y el crecimiento, el xito y el fracaso. Partiendo su propia experiencia de haber crecido en California, el poeta chicano Gary Soto recrea las alegras y tristezas de los jvenes de todas partes. Los listos, duros y vulnerables chinos de estos cuentos son latinos, pero sus sueos y deseos son los mismos de todo el mundo.

Award-winning poet Gary Soto and Caldecott winner David Diaz turn their eyes on the world of kids. From family pictures to pinatas, from the gato with a meow like a rusty latch to Fourth of July fireworks, the startling and often overlooked moments that define childhood are vividly brought to life by these two acclaimed talents.

These small essays are not unlike Dutch paintings of the sixteenth century. They are clear and precisely rendered, and are either thematically domestic scenes or pedestrian in their observations of the ordinary. There is a delirious joy in Soto's writings, and heartbreak. This collection features his much-lauded essays The Jacket and Like Mexicans, along with new essays such as Childhood Worries, or Why I Became a Writer, Getting It Done, and the title essay in which Soto fashions himself to be Fresno's own Knut Hamsun, the Norwegian writer of the 1920s who lived on nothing more than his five senses.

Poet and critic Christopher Buckley said of his poetry, [Soto has] mastered his form, has found his voice, and has the life experiences to provide meaningful content. He could have been speaking of his prose as well. Soto is at home with the essay; he is able to paint moments that would otherwise seem dull and not worthy of comment. He picks up hitchhikers, sorts through the mystery of finding a wife, and pulls together his wits to solve the hunger of stray dogs. He is tender and outrageous; he is reflective on worldly matters and cagey with his family and friends. In all, his dazzling effects of language will keep the reader continually surprised.These portraits are set in his hometown, Fresno, and in his current residence, the San Francisco Bay area. They therefore mark his time and place, but honor the instincts of the master Knut Hamsun, who walked around his town, a spectacle of wonder.

This volume includes forty-eight pieces: all of the personal narratives formerly collected in Small Faces, the best of Lesser Evils--both volumes long out-of-print--as well as five new essays.

Who would bring the door, la puerta, to a picnic instead of the pig, el puerco? An old man who's great at gardening but lousy at listening to his wife! In the universal tradition of the wise-fool story, this gentle disaster tale is funny and affectionate....The combination is great for reading aloud. -- BooklistCepeda makes brilliant use of color, form, and perspective to add humor to the work. It's a story children will want to retell themselves. -- Kirkus Reviews

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. 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.

In Japan for the summer to practice the martial art of kempo, Lincoln sometimes feels like little more than a brown boy in a white gi. Yet with the help of his Japanese brother, Mitsuo, Lincoln sees that people everywhere, whether friend or kempo opponent, share passions much like his own--for baseball, family traditions, and new friendships.

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?

There's something for every reader in this story's mix of humor, sports, themes of thrilling independence, subtle strands of magical realism, and timely social commentary, all held together by a sweet and satisfying emotional core.

Funny, touching, and wholly original, Local News is a first-rate collection from a perceptive and sensitive chronicler of ordinary life. --The Horn Book (starred review)

In thirteen stories full of wit and energy, Gary Soto illuminates the ordinary lives of young people.

Whether the kids are battling infestations of squirrels, dancing to romantic music on El Radio, trick-or-treating for one last time, or saving the world by becoming vegetarian. their problems are hilarious and real and as big as only a kid can make them.

The stories show the humor of growing up as well as the anguish. --Booklist

Plus don't miss Gary Soto's Baseball in April, a story collection that the Los Angeles Times called nothing less than remarkable.

Few writers capture the everyday moments of life like Gary Soto. In direct and vivid poems, he draws from his own youth in California's Central Valley to portray the joys and sorrows of young people. His writing focuses on Latino characters, yet speaks to readers of all ethnicities. Acclaimed by educators since its original publication in 1998, A Fire in My Hands has been revised and expanded in this new edition. Old and new fans of Soto's work will welcome the return of his compelling poems. One of the poems in this collection, Oranges, is a Common Core State Standards Exemplar (Grades 6-8, Poetry).
Includes an introduction and an interview with the author.

A timely new edition of a pioneering work in Latino literature, National Book Award nominee Gary Soto's first collection (originally published in 1977) draws on California's fertile San Joaquin Valley, the people, the place, and the hard agricultural work done there by immigrants. In these poems, joy and anger, violence and hope are placed in both the metaphorical and very real circumstances of the Valley. Rooted in personal experiences--of the poet as a young man, his friends, family, and neighbors--the poems are spare but expansive, with Soto's voice as important as ever. This welcome new edition has been expanded with a crucial selection of complementary poems (some previously unpublished) and a new introduction by the author.