A Biography on Gary Soto
References
 Born on April 12th, 1952 (67)
 Grew up in Fresno, California
 Married to Carolyn Oda, has one
daughter named Mariko
 Growing up he never pictured himself as

a writer
Got his B.A. degree in English at
California State University
 He has written poetry, novels, memoirs,
and children's literature
 Uses his own personal experiences in
his writings
 Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship for
Creative Arts, US & Canada, American
Book Award
“Gary Soto Books, Author Biography, and
Reading Level.” Scholastic,
www.scholastic.com/teachers/authors/ga
ry-soto/.
Iyer, P., Mazer, M., & Navarro, M. (2008).
Gary Soto. Retrieved from
http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_
projects08/latlit/soto.html
Gary Soto. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/
gary-soto
Soto, G., & Martinez, E. (1993). Too Many
Tamales. New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons.
Soto, G. (1977). The elements of San Joaquin.
San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Soto, G. (2000). Chato and the Party Animals.
New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Soto, G. (2000). Baseball in April and other
Gary Soto
stories. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc. Author / Illustrator Project
Gracie Simundson, Micaela Salgado and Rachel
Saum
“I do these things so kids can get excited over
reading.” - Gary Soto
Baseball in April and Other Stories.
 Baseball in April is a
collection of eleven different
short stories by Gray Soto. The
author uses his personal
childhood experiences in
California throughout the book.
In his writing, he shows the
poverty that he went through,
different friendships, and complications with his
brother. All of the eleven stories were different;
some were happy, sad, funny, and dramatic but
each story taught a lesson to the reader.
Too Many Tamales.
Too Many Tamales is a
picture book Gary Soto
wrote and illustrated by Ed
Martinez. The story follows
Maria’s holiday traditions
with her family and to find
something that has been
lost. Gary Soto gives
readers a glimpse into what the Latino culture
and traditions are, along with the perspective of
a child.
The Elements of San
Joaquin.
The Elements of San Joaquin is
a collection of poems about the
community of San Joaquin
Valley in the Fresno area. There
are different viewpoints of the
culture in the San Joaquin
Valley throughout the book, and
the reader gets personal poetry from Soto while
learning about agriculture and one perspective of
immigrant living. This could help students learn
about poetry and have them write poetry about is only one example and one look at the culture
themselves or either community. from the outside.
Summary of Chato and the Party Lesson Plan
Animals.
Chato and the party
Objective: Students will be able to make
animals is about a cat
named Chato and all his connections about Latino culture and
friends love to community while comparing it to their own
celebrate birthdays, but culture/community.
run into some trouble
- Mini-lesson about the Latino culture
along the way. The
story follows some - Read “Chato and the Party Animals” by
Gary Soto
traditions and culture of
the Latino community - Have them draw out Venn-diagrams
while following the group through their journey - Each student will compare Chato’s
to make a birthday party special for one of their culture and/or community to their own.
friends. They spend times of The story also uses For self-assessment of students
translanguaging in the story to help readers learn
understanding:
more words in Spanish, which are uncommon,
to help build Spanish vocabulary. Soto, G. - When all the students are done, give
(2000). Chato and the Party Animals. New
them a word bank of Spanish words and
York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
what they mean in English
- The students will use these words to
Critical Thoughts on Chato and the
make their own short story
Party Animals
- Each student will write their own story
The story has a glossary in the front of Spanish
about what they learn about the Latino
words throughout the story, and for a student it
might be helpful to have the translations at the culture (3-5 sentences) using the
bottom of the page so they do not have to flip Spanish words they were provided with.
back and forth. It could be distracting from the
story for some readers. It would be interesting to
see the book have a Spanish translation along
with the English text to bring more of the
language into the book. It may be hard for
children to relate animals doing cultural
traditions to the specific Latino culture. I think it
can be important to explain to students that this