1. Experience to Inspiration Gary Soto
Adriana Romo
Per.4
4/2/11

2. Main Points
Did Soto base any poems and novels on actual events of his life?
Did Soto write about the places where he lived and played?
Did Soto ever explain where he got the ideas for his poems and novels?

3. Main Point #1
Soto did in fact base poems and novels from his life for example The Elements of San Joaquin, which was inspired by where his parents and grandparents once worked. Gary Soto’s first book was published in the 1970s, his first book was The Elements of San Joaquin.

4. Main Point #2
Gary Soto did indeed write about places where he lived and played. Soto’s inspiration began at his hometown in Fresno. Soto wrote about his experiences on his elementary school blacktop, barrio (a poor Mexican-American neighborhood), and places where he played sports. That sparked a novel called Baseball in April and Other Stories. Buried Onions, which was is based on a young Mexican –American that fights to make something of himself in Fresno, California just like Soto wanted to be something more than just a farm worker.

5. Main Point #3
Soto did explain where he got his ideas from, it was from his father he wrote the novel The Afterlife, which is based on this believing of what happens after someone dies. Gary Soto’s daughter inspired him to write a book called The Skirt, Snapshots from the Wedding, The Old Man and His Door, and other children books. Soto got many ideas for his poems from his personal life for example “Junior College” was written because of the experiences of Soto working in colleges and attending them. Gary Soto also attended Catholic and private schools which in then made a poem called “Home Course in Religion.”

6. Quote
Joyce Carol Oates has said, “Gary Soto’s poems are fast, funny, heartening, and achingly believable like Polaroid love letters, or snatches of music heard from a passing car.”
According to Soto you can visit The Gary Soto Literary Museum to check out his life story, inspiration, and plaques with his poems on them.

7. Mercy on These Teenage Chimps A Fire in My Hands
Best Sellers
Mercy on These Teenage Chimps A Fire in My Hands
Accidental Love
Help Wanted
The Afterlife
Pacific Crossing
Baseball in April and Other Stories Petty Crimes
Buried Onions