(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rhode Montijo. Before Little League tryouts, rabbit Luis's papi tells him about some funny baseball superstitions. Luis soon connects his own baseball success with eating supermarket samples and relies on them to play well. Luis's dad declares, "Qué loco"--performing well comes from "practice and listening to your coach." Colorful acrylic-on-canvas illustrations capture Luis's dilemma. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(3) 4-6 Thirteen realistic stories limn poignant, provocative, mundane, and perspective-changing moments in the lives of mostly Latino thirteen-year-olds. The stories are brief, and the voices of both male and female protagonists feel authentic. (The cover design mimics a tween magazine, which will likely--and unfortunately--keep many boys away.)

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) YA Soto presents seventy-seven original poems about teenage love. Divided into two sections, "A Girl's Tears, Her Songs" and "A Boy's Body, His Words," the free-verse poems all ring true: appropriately corny, rich with image, accessible and believable. The simple, open design encourages browsing, and readers flipping through are bound to find the right words when they need them.

Reviewer: Nina Lindsay | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2009

(2) 4-6 Soto's ten short stories introduce young Latinos and Latinas at turning points. Variety in tone and subject widens the potential audience and encourages selective, rather than continuous, reading. Several of the stories are open-ended, subtly indicating that pivotal moments in life may be just that--moments that go unrecognized at the time but indicate the future paths of the characters in question. Glos.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(2) 4-6 Ronnie and his best friend Joey (both thirteen) are changing, with long gangly arms and awkward chimplike behavior. When Coach publicly humiliates Joey, he takes to a tree. Soto adroitly blends the unlikely with the realistic, grounding the story with sharply observed details of life in a lower-middle-class California community. This is a rollicking novel about the painful beginnings of adolescence.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2007

(2) 4-6 This revised edition includes seventeen new poems, leaving out seven poems and the quiet illustrations of the earlier edition. Even without them, this is a solid collection that includes writing that will give voice to many of the emotions young people experience in the small moments of daily life. A short interview with Soto is included at the end.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 1992

(2) YA Soto's collection introduces a cross section of contemporary Mexican-American kids dealing with family, friendship, and first love. The tales generally feature convincing characterizations and offer some memorable images. Though the stories are rooted in Latino culture (Spanish words and phrases are defined at book's end), young teen readers will find that the emotions on display are pretty much universal.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Guevara. Chato, the lowriding feline from East L.A. (Chato's Kitchen), and his best friend win a free cruise, but the amigos are dismayed to find themselves on a ship full of rowdy dogs. Using jazzy bilingual dialogue, Soto conveys how much the two friends feel like outsiders in this comically unfortunate situation. The bold acrylic paintings are augmented with black-and-white comic strips. Glos.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Greg Clarke. Fernie and his nameless narrator friend take a free-verse and freely associative trip around the world in this companion to Fearless Fernie. The sightseeing and related high jinks are frequently goofy; the book is an authentic boy's-eye view of daydreamed foreign adventure and the rewards of best-friendship. Scattered pen-and-ink drawings honor both the humor and amity of the poems.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(3) K-3 Milestone Books series. Illustrated by Lori Lohstoeter. These books for younger readers offer only a few personal details and focus on the subjects' accomplishments. Krensky provides a sprightly account of the maverick Nellie Bly's work exposing corrupt politicians, unfair treatment of the mentally ill, and fraud. Soto covers Chávez's role in helping California farm workers fight for their rights. Both books include black-and-white drawings; Bly has a timeline. Bib. [Review covers these Milestone Books titles: Nellie Bly and Cesar Chavez.]

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(2) YA Chuy, the victim of a murder, rises from his body to observe earthly goings-on, but he's more engaged with his life as a teenage ghost. The Latino neighborhoods of Fresno provide a solid setting for the fantasy, as tangible as Chuy's ghost is not. Ghostly romance, not tragic reality, the book ends with Chuy and a beautiful ghost named Crystal floating toward the afterlife amid Soto's poetic metaphors of autumn.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2003

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Regan Dunnick. Tweaking the trend of free-verse novels, this collection of poems is united by theme rather than plot as it explores the shifting ground of early adolescence as experienced by two best friends: the narrator ("Me") and Fernie. Most of the poems are casually deft and often funny in evoking the boys' misadventures. Small ink sketches illustrate most of the poems with tongue-in-cheek depictions of their furthest flights of imagery.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2002

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Terry Widener. Tired of hand-me-downs, Mexican-American Rigo receives a pair of "fancy" loafers for his ninth birthday. After a bully ridicules them, Rigo banishes them to his closet. He tries to wear them months later, but they no longer fit; then Rigo notices that his uncle is smaller than he is and that his clothes are shabby. This subtle story is infused with an upbeat mood and nimble humor. The artwork is as inviting and unpretentious as Soto's prose. Glos.

Reviewer: Nell Beram | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2002

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Guevara. Chato and Novio Boy, those two cool cats from Chato's Kitchen, are back for another adventure in el barrio. Chato decides to throw a pachanga for his pal but forgets to invite the birthday cat. The lively text, sprinkled with Spanish words and phrases, is well matched by the energetic art filled with details that help establish the setting and extend the humor. Glos.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(1) 4-6 Soto is an astute observer of the desires, fears, and foibles of children and teenagers going about the business of daily living. In these eleven vignettes featuring Mexican-American families, the character portrayals are gentle; the tone is quiet and somewhat bittersweet; and respect for family is a consistent value. This illumination of the everyday will strike chords of recognition in readers of all ages. Glos.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1990

(4) YA Jessie De La Cruz, a migrant farmer, worked tirelessly with the United Farm Workers' Union to better conditions of her peers. Framed by personal interviews with De La Cruz, Soto's biography outlines her life but doesn't develop the larger context of her story: the non-resolution of the wrongdoings she struggled to correct. The integration of English and Spanish gives the text authenticity, as does a center section of black-and-white photos. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(3) K-3 The only costume Ricky wants to wear for his class's 'Cinco de Mayo' play is a big, bushy mustache, because it looks just like Papi's. When he wears it home from school to show his parents, he loses it along the way. Papi's solution--he generously offers his own freshly shaved mustache--is a little unlikely, but the warm family relationship, emphasized in Cepeda's bold paintings, comes across nevertheless.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Ten powerful short stories about Latino youths include "The Funeral Suits," in which Tomas and his cousin Miguel find their fathers' funeral suits in the closet and try them on; as they strut down the street, two bullies demand the suits. In "Little Scams," young swindler Mario tries to sell stolen goods at his "yard sale," but a more experienced scam artist gets his wares and all his money. A sense of family strength relieves the undercurrent of sadness in these raw stories.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.