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Why I Don't Write Children's Literature
Gary Soto is a poet and, in his previous writing life, author of children’s literature. Moreover, he is an essayist whose works, such as Living Up the Street, A Summer Life, and What Poets Are Like, were celebrated for their openness and vivid image-making. In this collection, the poet again offers prose that is robust, confessional, and peculiar in its observations. He addresses time. He considers aging. If each day of the week represented a decade, then Soto is now cruising late Saturday afternoon. As the clock’s gears relentlessly grind, he’s soon on Sunday—but Sunday morning! He still has time to enjoy the world about him.
Soto is a master essayist. His sharply refined sentences are worth a second read, and often a pencil in hand. Soto’s world is quirky, captured in narrative that will soften readers with laughter and empathy. Like many boomers, he laments his sense of failure. Like them, he shrugs off that failure to recast his remaining years. He befriends daffodils, praises theater and tribute bands, and snuggles up with his wife of nearly forty years. This book is short enough to read in one sitting on the couch and encourages a second reading with deeper pleasure in bed.
Soto is a master essayist. His sharply refined sentences are worth a second read, and often a pencil in hand. Soto’s world is quirky, captured in narrative that will soften readers with laughter and empathy. Like many boomers, he laments his sense of failure. Like them, he shrugs off that failure to recast his remaining years. He befriends daffodils, praises theater and tribute bands, and snuggles up with his wife of nearly forty years. This book is short enough to read in one sitting on the couch and encourages a second reading with deeper pleasure in bed.
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
216 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 2015
About the author
Gary Soto
140 books247 followersGary Soto is the author of eleven poetry collections for adults, most notably New and Selected Poems, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including Ploughshares, Michigan Quarterly, Poetry International, and Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in the interview series Poets in Person. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. For ITVS, he produced the film “The Pool Party,” which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Film Excellence. In 1997, because of his advocacy for reading, he was featured as NBC’s Person-of-the-Week. In 1999, he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. He divides his time between Berkeley, California and his hometown of Fresno.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 14, 2015
Why I Don't Write Children's Literature is a collection of essays by poet (and former author of children's literature) Gary Soto. I enjoyed the essays: they range from very good to excellent.
The title essay recounts the author's experience when writing a book for the American Doll series, causing much controversy when one of the characters describes a neighborhood as dangerous (statistically accurate!). The tone is one of bemusement, as it is in many of the essays. Soto is continually surprised by and interested in the world around him-the young, the older (his peers), the poor, animals and flowers as well as human. He goes to plays where the cast outnumbers the audience, tribute bands celebrating the Rolling Stones, and The Beatles,and several essays about his newly discovered interest in gardening and flower arranging.
In all of this, Soto presents himself as a bristly "old" man (I had some problem with this, seeing as he and I are almost exactly the same age and I do not yet think of myself as old!). He now naps in the morning, concealing this fact from his wife of many years (the marriage seems to be one of great love and affection as well as companionship).
There are meditations on poetry and poets and man caves and tennis. There is a great variety of subjects, a few political but most domestic. Soto reflects on ordinary life, the ordinary life of a poet and American man. He often muses on the passing of time and his own aging.
The final essay, called "Homage," is a tribute to Latin American writer,Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the impact of Garcia Marquez's epic work, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Soto beautifully discusses the work, the man, and their impact upon him. The tone in this essay is the gentlest and most tender of all of these essays.
I grew very fond of this voice-self-deprecating, bristling, intelligent, and, above all, alive and interested in the world. Nothing is too small for this appreciative, questioning glance; everything is of interest. The stories are, as perhaps befits an author, full of vivid images. They left me feeling more interested in my own life, my own experiences, my world. Soto gives everything and everyone the dignity of attention. Everything is held up to the light of his perception and curiosity.
As often happens with poets, I felt more alive upon reading this work and more appreciative of life, of all the little things and moments that are lives mostly consist of. Objects are beautiful or at least of interest.
I did wish there were a table of contents so I could easily locate various essays but it would be a lengthy list since many of the essays are short (a page or two, very few more than three or four pages) and there are many of them. This could almost be considered a collection of moments, examined in the light, creating prisms turning ordinary light into rainbows.
In the interest of full disclosure, I won this book from LibraryThing but the review is my honest response to the work.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the experience of poets in general or Gary Soto in particular or in the experience of living. It doesn't take long to read but the words echo even after the book is closed.
The title essay recounts the author's experience when writing a book for the American Doll series, causing much controversy when one of the characters describes a neighborhood as dangerous (statistically accurate!). The tone is one of bemusement, as it is in many of the essays. Soto is continually surprised by and interested in the world around him-the young, the older (his peers), the poor, animals and flowers as well as human. He goes to plays where the cast outnumbers the audience, tribute bands celebrating the Rolling Stones, and The Beatles,and several essays about his newly discovered interest in gardening and flower arranging.
In all of this, Soto presents himself as a bristly "old" man (I had some problem with this, seeing as he and I are almost exactly the same age and I do not yet think of myself as old!). He now naps in the morning, concealing this fact from his wife of many years (the marriage seems to be one of great love and affection as well as companionship).
There are meditations on poetry and poets and man caves and tennis. There is a great variety of subjects, a few political but most domestic. Soto reflects on ordinary life, the ordinary life of a poet and American man. He often muses on the passing of time and his own aging.
The final essay, called "Homage," is a tribute to Latin American writer,Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the impact of Garcia Marquez's epic work, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Soto beautifully discusses the work, the man, and their impact upon him. The tone in this essay is the gentlest and most tender of all of these essays.
I grew very fond of this voice-self-deprecating, bristling, intelligent, and, above all, alive and interested in the world. Nothing is too small for this appreciative, questioning glance; everything is of interest. The stories are, as perhaps befits an author, full of vivid images. They left me feeling more interested in my own life, my own experiences, my world. Soto gives everything and everyone the dignity of attention. Everything is held up to the light of his perception and curiosity.
As often happens with poets, I felt more alive upon reading this work and more appreciative of life, of all the little things and moments that are lives mostly consist of. Objects are beautiful or at least of interest.
I did wish there were a table of contents so I could easily locate various essays but it would be a lengthy list since many of the essays are short (a page or two, very few more than three or four pages) and there are many of them. This could almost be considered a collection of moments, examined in the light, creating prisms turning ordinary light into rainbows.
In the interest of full disclosure, I won this book from LibraryThing but the review is my honest response to the work.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the experience of poets in general or Gary Soto in particular or in the experience of living. It doesn't take long to read but the words echo even after the book is closed.
May 24, 2015
I was positive I was going to love this book. There were some really great tidbits but overall it did not hold my attention.
January 15, 2018
God, this was so boring. It felt like reading the diary of the Most Boring Man Alive.
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August 28, 2022Intervac-gäst
April 15, 2025
oh gary soto you will be my favorite thing to ever come out of fresno
April 24, 2015
I am familiar with Gary Soto's poetry but had not known him as an essayist. When I received a copy of Why I Don't Write Children's Literature in a Good|reads Giveaway, I was able to remedy this.
Soto's poetic sensibility shines through his essays, whether he is writing about his home and family life, current events, or more whimsical meanderings. His words flow. Reading a Soto essay is like listening to an especially interesting storyteller.
Another thing I did not know about Soto is that he wrote a book for an American Girl doll - specifically, Marisol, a Chicana girl living in Chicago, who was the 2005 Girl of the Year. In the essay that gives the collection its title, Soto explains that in his book, Marisol's family was planning to move from their troubled Chicago neighborhood to Des Plaines, a suburb about 25 miles away. Soto's story was about the quintessential immigrant experience - living in an impoverished neighborhood until you can afford to move up and out and Marisol's mixed feelings about leaving her friends and activities in her familiar surroundings. Somehow a Chicago politician got hold of the book and raised a hue and cry, protesting that the plot insulted Chicago. In this essay, Soto shows how things can quickly escalate out of all proportion, and he shares his feelings about freedom of speech and the sharing of ideas. He does reach the conclusion that he should no longer write children's fiction.
In other essays, Soto shares bits about his writing career and on being a poet, and about his younger self. The only thing better than reading these essays might be the opportunity to hear Soto read them - and to be able to ask him questions and share one's own memories.
Soto's poetic sensibility shines through his essays, whether he is writing about his home and family life, current events, or more whimsical meanderings. His words flow. Reading a Soto essay is like listening to an especially interesting storyteller.
Another thing I did not know about Soto is that he wrote a book for an American Girl doll - specifically, Marisol, a Chicana girl living in Chicago, who was the 2005 Girl of the Year. In the essay that gives the collection its title, Soto explains that in his book, Marisol's family was planning to move from their troubled Chicago neighborhood to Des Plaines, a suburb about 25 miles away. Soto's story was about the quintessential immigrant experience - living in an impoverished neighborhood until you can afford to move up and out and Marisol's mixed feelings about leaving her friends and activities in her familiar surroundings. Somehow a Chicago politician got hold of the book and raised a hue and cry, protesting that the plot insulted Chicago. In this essay, Soto shows how things can quickly escalate out of all proportion, and he shares his feelings about freedom of speech and the sharing of ideas. He does reach the conclusion that he should no longer write children's fiction.
In other essays, Soto shares bits about his writing career and on being a poet, and about his younger self. The only thing better than reading these essays might be the opportunity to hear Soto read them - and to be able to ask him questions and share one's own memories.
May 4, 2015
I'm torn between 4 stars and 5 stars so I'm going to give it the 5, but really the last bit about the myths of poets could have been left out. That said....
I finished Gary Soto's book a few days ago and I still have the rhythm of his voice in my head. I feel like I've gone for a long car ride and enjoyed a warm Corona beer or two with him listening to his stories. I'm not sure if we actually have much in common but he's an enjoyable companion who has paid his writing dues over the years. Since he did most of his writing of children's books when I was too old and my daughter was not yet born I will have to go and seek them out now.
In this book he writes about his experience of writing the American Girl "Marisol" which came out in 2005, the year before my girl was born. Just before reading "Why I Don't Write Children's Literature" I had just read "Grace", another American Girl book. "Grace" is from Massachusetts, bakes, and spends 5 weeks in Paris. I don't think she has much in common with "Marisol" aside from her age. And so it is with Gary and I. We don't have much in common and yet I feel like I know him.
Whether he is planting daffodils in the median near his church, attending a Rolling Stones tribute band concert, or going simply hanging out on the deck of a friend's house his imagery makes it real and I feel like I have been there with him. As Amazon promises he is indeed a "master essayist".
Fortunately I am blessed to work at a university that has many of his books from the 1980s and 1990s. If you need me at lunchtime, I'll be in the stacks tracking them down.
And Gary, if you happen to be in Massachusetts some day, stop by and I'll buy you a coffee.
I finished Gary Soto's book a few days ago and I still have the rhythm of his voice in my head. I feel like I've gone for a long car ride and enjoyed a warm Corona beer or two with him listening to his stories. I'm not sure if we actually have much in common but he's an enjoyable companion who has paid his writing dues over the years. Since he did most of his writing of children's books when I was too old and my daughter was not yet born I will have to go and seek them out now.
In this book he writes about his experience of writing the American Girl "Marisol" which came out in 2005, the year before my girl was born. Just before reading "Why I Don't Write Children's Literature" I had just read "Grace", another American Girl book. "Grace" is from Massachusetts, bakes, and spends 5 weeks in Paris. I don't think she has much in common with "Marisol" aside from her age. And so it is with Gary and I. We don't have much in common and yet I feel like I know him.
Whether he is planting daffodils in the median near his church, attending a Rolling Stones tribute band concert, or going simply hanging out on the deck of a friend's house his imagery makes it real and I feel like I have been there with him. As Amazon promises he is indeed a "master essayist".
Fortunately I am blessed to work at a university that has many of his books from the 1980s and 1990s. If you need me at lunchtime, I'll be in the stacks tracking them down.
And Gary, if you happen to be in Massachusetts some day, stop by and I'll buy you a coffee.
September 19, 2015
Gary Soto writes as if you, the reader, were sitting having a cup of coffee with him, reminiscing. I thoroughly enjoyed his essays and loved how random they were. They personified how he thinks, his thoughts flitting from one memory or opinion to another. He helps you view the writer/poet as a normal human being, with that never ending desire to be a little more famous or recognized than you are. However at the same time I enjoyed his contented attitude and down to earth outlook on life. If you're a fan of essays or short stories I would definitely recommend this book to you.
April 21, 2015
Soto makes writing essays about every day life look unbelievably easy. His wit and intelligence roll into perfect little pieces of poetic literature. Each essay reads so easily and flows so well that the book makes for a quick read. Talented and humble, Soto is the kind of guy who would help you with a flat tire, loan you a cup of sugar if you were his neighbor, or buy a homeless person a cup of coffee--just because.
October 29, 2015
I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I didn't think that I would like this type of book to read. But I can honestly say that this book has opened me to read this type of book. Gary Soto wrote short essays about his life, experiences and pretty much anything. What made it easy for me was the humor in his writing and at times seriousness of the topic. Great book to read.
I didn't think that I would like this type of book to read. But I can honestly say that this book has opened me to read this type of book. Gary Soto wrote short essays about his life, experiences and pretty much anything. What made it easy for me was the humor in his writing and at times seriousness of the topic. Great book to read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews