Soto, Gary (1952-…), is an American children’s author known for his fiction and poetry inspired by his Chicano heritage. A Chicano is a person of Mexican descent who was born in the United States or who identifies with that group. Soto’s writing brings alive the sights and sounds of the barrio, the urban Hispanic neighborhood where he grew up in California. His writing often explores the violence and racial tensions young and poor Hispanic face in their daily lives. But Soto also writes with humor, especially in his books for very young readers.
Soto’s first important children’s book was the short story collection Baseball in April (1990), which portrays the lives of Mexican American boys and girls growing up in Hispanic neighborhoods in California. Soto’s poetry collections for young readers include A Fire in My Hands (1990, revised 2006) and Neighborhood Odes (1992). Soto wrote the text for several picture books, notably Too Many Tamales (1996); My Little Car (2006); and a series about Chato, a mischievous cat that lives in the barrio. The series includes Chato’s Kitchen (1995) and Chato Goes Cruisin’ (2005).
Soto wrote realistic fiction aimed at young adults, including the related novels Buried Onions (1997) and The Afterlife (2003). He also wrote biographies of two Mexican American social activists, Jessie de la Cruz: Profile of a United Farm Worker (2000) and Cesar Chavez: A Hero for Everyone (2003). Soto also wrote much autobiographical prose, such as Living Up the Street (1985), Lesser Evils (1988), and The Effects of Knut Hamsun on a Fresno Boy (2000). His later works include the short story collections Facts of Life (2008) and Hey 13! (2011); the poetry collections Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing (2009) and You Kiss by th’ Book (2016); and the autobiography What Poets Are Like (2013).
Soto was born on April 12, 1952, in Fresno, California. He attended Fresno City College from 1970 to 1972 and earned an A.A. degree in general studies. He earned a B.A. degree in English from California State University, Fresno, in 1974 and an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine, in 1976. Soto taught at California universities from 1979 to 1992. His early works were largely poetry aimed at adult readers, starting with The Elements of San Joaquin (1977). Soto concentrated on children’s literature beginning in 1990. In 1999, he received the Hispanic Heritage Award for the short story collection for children Petty Crimes (1998).
