Petty Crimes

Name: Petty Crimes
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Gary Soto
ISBN: 9781436143561

Author: Gary Soto

Narrator: Robert Ramirez

Unabridged: 3 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/23/2009

Categories: Children's Fiction

Synopsis

In books like Buried Onions and Boys at Work Gary Soto displays a gift for revealing the tough, heart-breaking life of contemporary urban kids. In Petty Crimes, Soto offers 10 stories about the risky situations and dangerous little scams faced by young people growing up on the harsh streets of the city. Meet Alma, who can accept her mother's death from cancer, but not the loss of her mother's clothes to local charities. Cheer for Rudy, who learns some rude lessons about himself in the boxing ring. And struggle with Norma, whose chance to take care of her classroom's "baby" shows her just how difficult it is to keep someone safe. Through these and seven other sometimes funny, sometimes tragic stories, Soto chronicles inner-city youths as they strive for something more from their lives-and confront the limitations of their futures. Robert Ramirez's energetic narration captures each memorable character and event.

About Gary Soto

Gary Soto is the author of Baseball in April, Taking Sides, Puppy Love, and many more books for young readers. He is a National Book Award finalist and a recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Medal, the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature, the Tomás Rivera Book Award, the NEA Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award, the California Library Associationâ€™s Beatty Award, and the PEN Center West Book Award. He lives in Northern California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nathan on January 22, 2008

My wife and I frequently read short story collections to each other at night. She is a junior high English teacher and also writes young adult fiction, and as such she reads a lot of material written for adolescents. This is one of those books. It's 10 stories of 10 children growing up in urban Hisp......more

Goodreads review by Sara on June 14, 2010

This is a compilation of short stories about Latino children who either commit petty crimes or are the subjects of those petty crimes. I was confused at first when I started to read the book because I thought there would be a connection in the plot with all of the characters. I thought somehow their......more

Goodreads review by Moncerrat on May 11, 2017

I just finished reading Petty Crimes, the genre might be realistic fiction and the book is by Gary Soto. In this book is about kids that don't have a very easy life because they get into trouble a lot and take a whole lot a risks. My favorite one had to be "La Guera" because in "La Guera" is about a......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on July 21, 2018

This is a book of short stories all by a Gary Soto about the difficulties of Latino children in poverty. It discusses the struggles of bullying, death, older grandparents, growing up, fitting in, getting trouble, etc. I like Soto’s imagery and sound in his writing but I feel that a few of the storie......more

Goodreads review by Cristian on May 15, 2017

i just finished a book called "petty crimes," a fiction by gary soto. i would rate it a 10 b/c it has a lot of dialogue in it and it has to involve mexicans in it.......more