Award-winning poet Gary Soto and Caldecott winner David Diaz turn their eyes on the world of kids. From family pictures to pinatas, from the gato w...
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Mar 16, 2010
Stephanie
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Neighborhood Odes, written by Gary Soto and illustrated by David Ortiz, focuses on the Hispanic culture in their book of poems. Soto incorporates several Spanish vocabulary terms throughout his book. Each poem is dedicated to either a piñata, gato, perrito, or even Pabolo’s tennis shoes—just to name a few topics. Soto appeals to all children by presenting topics most children find interesting, and puts a twist on them by using the Hispanic culture as a major influence within his poems.
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Feb 15, 2011
Nancy
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Published: 2005, Sandpiper
Age: 9-12
Gary Soto writes 21 poems that are from his life in a Hispanic neighborhood. He takes you to the simple places from his past and you can picture the images as if you were right there. He write odes to things like weddings, pets, tortillas, a library, parks, music, tennis shoes, and grandparents from a Spanish point of view, but anyone could relate to the universal feelings of excitement, love, happiness, and adventure. The black and white woodcut pr More...
Age: 9-12
Gary Soto writes 21 poems that are from his life in a Hispanic neighborhood. He takes you to the simple places from his past and you can picture the images as if you were right there. He write odes to things like weddings, pets, tortillas, a library, parks, music, tennis shoes, and grandparents from a Spanish point of view, but anyone could relate to the universal feelings of excitement, love, happiness, and adventure. The black and white woodcut pr More...
Sep 04, 2011
Elsa
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This book takes me to my childhood. The neighborhood events, people and culture is similar to my childhood experiences. It's hard for me to write poetry even as a beginner. I want to read different kinds of poetry to get creative and write my own. This book is great for elementary-intermediate students to familiriaze with poetry and to start writing their own. As a teacher I would use this book for poetry lessons.
Jul 30, 2009
Oscar
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My biggest beef with Soto's Neighborhood Odes is that the children's poems came out like an adult writing as if he were a child. The line breaks were choppy, the revelations simplistic and the metaphors, well, childish. Childish being very different from sincere ans wondrous, tones this collection does hit in a few places but not near often enough.
Oct 24, 2011
Keely
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This free style poetry leads the reader on a trip through a Hispanic neighborhood experiencing cultural elements such as pinatas, La Tortillas, Los Chicharrones and other aspects found in all cultures. This poetry may be appealing to the older reluctance reader, due to its familiar content and readability.
Oct 02, 2007
Sundry
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What a wonderful book. It’s listed as children’s literature, but it’s really touching and beautiful and good for all ages.
The poems are about moments in a child’s life. The setting may be different from where I grew up, but the childlike perspective is delightfully familiar. It’s respectful of kids, I think. The illustrations are terrific, too.
I picked this as one of the 5 poetry books I said I’d read in 2005. Got up on a Sunday morning, made myself a pot of tea, built a More...
The poems are about moments in a child’s life. The setting may be different from where I grew up, but the childlike perspective is delightfully familiar. It’s respectful of kids, I think. The illustrations are terrific, too.
I picked this as one of the 5 poetry books I said I’d read in 2005. Got up on a Sunday morning, made myself a pot of tea, built a More...
Dec 19, 2011
Jessica
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This book was okay. I would probably use it to have on my classroom bookshelf, but I probably wouldn't use it as a teaching tool.
Feb 07, 2009
Diana
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Deceptively simple, but lyrical, profound, and highly enjoyable - who says poetry has to be obtuse and complicated?
Jul 09, 2011
Nan
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Based on the little that I've read by Gary Soto, his imagery seems at once gentle and vivid. These childhood snapshots of life in California's Central Valley are further proof. There are a lot of food mentions (snow cones, pork rinds, tortillas, chopped veggies), so don't read this while hungry.
Feb 09, 2008
Tiff
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This book contains a collection of poems that depict life in a Hispanic neighborhood. There are Spanish words throughout the books, with an index in the back to translate.
Even though some of the poems may seem silly ['Ode to Pork Rinds'] they are truly heartwarming and give the reader a great sampling of the neighborhood.
Even though some of the poems may seem silly ['Ode to Pork Rinds'] they are truly heartwarming and give the reader a great sampling of the neighborhood.
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