A Summer Life
by Gary Soto
List Price:
Our Price: $1.49
You Save: $5.01 (77%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.13 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Gary SotoEdition: Paperback
Published: 1991-08-01
ISBN: 0440210240
Number of pages: 160
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Book Reviews of A Summer Life
Book Review: A Little Boy, A Big World
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Gary Soto's "A Summer Life" while I was writing my first book in order to educate myself in the creation of vibrant, evocative scenes that come out of ordinary, every day experiences. For example, in Soto's essay, "The Shirt," he shows how the tragic, post-Korean War existence of Uncle Shorty seemed magical and special to a young Soto who covets his uncle's shirt: "I used to slip it on when he was asleep, and at the age of five I knew the smell of a man who went and came back from war....It was the shape of muscle, the anger of a tattoo panther hiding behind cotton, the hair in the collar, the small hole where a bullet could have entered and exited without his dying." Or, with the simple first line of "The Weather," Soto can set the stage for the mysteries of climate: "January doesn't show its true face until you can scratch a cold window with a finger." This little book will make you smile (and sometimes wince) as it brings back your own personal memories of growing up. This is a wonderful collection that offers everyone, including new writers, a chance to enjoy and learn from beautifully crafted essays.
Summary of A Summer Life
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.Literary Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Great Books For Urban Teens
Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France, 1769 (The Royal Diaries)by Kathryn Lasky
Scholastic Inc.; Published: 2000-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.85
Price in other shops:
A Summer Lifeby Gary Soto
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1991-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops:
Big Mouth & Ugly Girlby Joyce Carol Oates
HarperTeen; Published: 2003-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Shoeless Joeby W. P. Kinsella
Mariner Books; Published: 1999-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-5)by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPr?
Scholastic Inc.; Published: 2004-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.00
Price in other shops:
Go Ask Aliceby Anonymous
Simon Pulse; Published: 1998-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Getting Mother's Body: A Novelby Suzan-Lori Parks
Random House; Published: 2003-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Persepolis: The Story of a ChildhoodPantheon; Published: 2003-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.70
Price in other shops:
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Returnby Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon; Published: 2004-08-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
The Kite Runnerby Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2004-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Fireflies (Reading Rainbow)Aladdin; Published: 1986-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.11
Price in other shops:
Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophyby Christopher Phillips
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2002-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
Petty Crimesby Gary Soto
Harcourt Paperbacks; Published: 2006-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Buried Onionsby Gary Soto
Harcourt Paperbacks; Published: 2006-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.77
Price in other shops:
Taking Sidesby Gary Soto
Harcourt Paperbacks; Published: 2003-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.80
Price in other shops:
Help Wanted: Storiesby Gary Soto
Harcourt Paperbacks; Published: 2007-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops:
When I Was Your Age, Volume One: Original Stories About Growing Up (When I Was Your Age)Candlewick; Published: 2001-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.81
Price in other shops:
The House on Mango Streetby Sandra Cisneros
Vintage; Published: 1991-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Living Up The Streetby Gary Soto
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1992-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.34
Price in other shops:
Baseball in April and Other Storiesby Gary Soto
Harcourt Paperbacks; Published: 2000-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.24
Price in other shops: