petty crimes

by Gary Soto, Robert Ramirez (Narrated by)

10 stories about the risky situations and dangerous litter scams faced by young people growing up on the harsh streets of the city. 3 cassettes, 3.75 hours

Genres: Young Adult, Short Stories, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, School, Hispanic, Cultural

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Gary 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.

Reviews

[Nathan]

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 Hispanic American culture. Most of them are poor, all of them dealing with something traumatic. A bully, street gangs, an aging grandfather, a missing rooster. Some of these stories are so funny I nearly wet my pants laughing. Others are quite real and morose, while still others are tender. In each of them, Soto manages to really find the voice of young adolescence. It is easy to see he is writing from his roots, and he is very in-tune with the feelings and experience and awkwardness that is young adulthood. I'm often amazed at how really good writers of young adult fiction are often more poignant and profound than most writers of adult fiction who use five times as many words. We read one story a night and skipped a few nights, so it took us about two weeks, but you could plow through this book in an hour, and what a delightful hour it would be.

[Sara]

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 stories would intertwine with each other, but they never did. It was not my favorite story to read because I think there were a lot of loose ends. However, I did enjoy the writing, and if we were to have discussed it in class, I think I would have liked it more.

[Edith]

I think this book was very good because it tells a life story about teenagers that have problems in there life one story was about this girl who mom passed away and her dad moves on but the daughter is still upset and her dad bought new thing for the house and gave away all the moms clothes and the daughter saw one of the moms jackets on one of her friends moms and she asked the girl where dd her mom get that jacket and said that that was her moms jacket and the girl denied it was hers and the girl went to all of the stores her dad put the clothes in and found where her dad put the clothes in and bought back all her moms x
clothes and the girls mom who had the jacket gave it back and said she was sorry for hr mom taking the jacket

[Moncerrat Gudino Valdez]

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 girl named Priscilla, but she goes by La Guera, anyways, she started to turn into a homegirl aka chola ,I guess. She started to do bad stuff like stealing from stores and people, but until one day she stole La Teri's boyfriend (which it's another girl) and her boyfriend's name is Ruben. La Teri started fighting with La Guera and everything went downhill, La Teri was betting her up and La Guera only saw red (which is blood, obviously). I really liked this book because it was descriptive and how people do bad stuff and then stuff happens to them really bad.

[Kelly Boggs]

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 stories are left unresolved or maybe just in a sad place. My favorites of the bunch are “Born Worker” and “Mother’s Clothes.” I had fun looking up some of the Spanish words that Soto worked into his stories. (Pedo means fart!)

[Mary Lara]

A beautiful book that is easy to relate to. Soto manages to create 10 different personalities and is successful with them all. Some stories are heartbreaking, while others are humorous. All the stories make you think. A great collection for any educator to use in class.

[Daniel Sorto]

its about a kids life growing up how it is to be a child a grown man and baby and teen in all throught hi life he discovers why he exist peace by peace

[Cristian]

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.

[Bob Gustas]

It is a good book of short stories. I wanted more to them. Great for young readers and those who like short stories

[Claudia S]

Really great compilation of short stories from various family dynamics.

[Rick Christiansen]

Somewhat pointless butbI really liked the short story "little scams". Good lesson in karma

[Gregg Puluka]

Great book for young adults. Helps give a different perspective on growing up in areas where it’s hard to be a kid

[Steven Sauls]

There is a girl name Priscilla and she still In high school. Priscilla likes I steal from the store , her mom always tell her if she gets caught that she would not be able to bail her out. Recently she had joined a gang . The gang is basically a Mexican group because they are all cholos. Priscilla gets in trouble a lot & most of the time it's her getting into a fight. Priscilla wears a lot of make-up that she takes from the store. Mostly what she takes if eye liner. Priscilla got into another fight so she had to move with her aunt. The book is a good book. I don't really like that she try's to be someone that she's not . Her mom told her that she was not acting like this when ever she was not hanging around the people she does now. I like that the book is name petty crimes , because the stuff that Priscilla does is stupid. Who gets In trouble for stealing makeup ? I would relate this book to my friend Miguel lol. He gets In trouble a lot. He gets in trouble because he wants to make people laugh. I would relate them to each other because they have the same mind set. He likes fighting & thinks that he is invincible.

[Krystal Danneels]

it was very interesting,it had much detail, dialoge, and thinking . and the action and suspence put u on the edge of your seats.when reading this bookyou must read carfully to find out what the authors purpose is to teach.because it gets harder and harder to tell as the chapters go on.
my favorite story in the book was norma's story it had alot of confusion,anger, and fustration. and it shows how a small problem can grow into a big problem.she is being bullied but this time the person standing by helps her but, when norma trys to tell an adult whats going on she gets into an epic fight.all i can say is i recomend this book to every one and to those who want to read it i hope you like it!

[Lindsay]

I'm a fan of the short story, and I'm a fan of Gary Soto's work. This collection offers a realistic sampling of the inner lives of ten Hispanic kids growing up in poor neighborhoods. While the characters and stories themselves don't intertwine, the themes, like poverty, do. Poverty makes for overworked mothers, kids who steal, kids who take odd jobs, kids who find so much joy in a new pair of shoes. Not all kids lead lives with Little League, gourmet dinners, Xbox, and smartphones--many children of this generation deal with gangs, bullies, sick parents, absent parents, and this collection offers us a glimpse of what goes on in children's lives, which isn't always beautiful or comical.

[Jesus V]

This book is pretty nice its about Manuel, a young man who wears hand me downs from his older brothers until he finally gets a brand-new pair of shoes. And Jose Luis, who watches the vet bills rise after he buys a sick rooster to save it from becoming someone's dinner. And Alma, a young woman who runs to every shop and flea market in town buying back the clothes of her dead mother that her father has given away. These Mexican American youths meet life's challenges head on in this hard hitting collection of short stories.

[Akeem Dainty]

this book is about a little girl name la guera who grew up in a neighborhood were if you was not rich you were not anything she and her friends would go and steal from stores and never get caught but one day they went into a store and the store owner caught her and did not lock her up but told her to put it back.After that her mother found out and told her she was going to spend some time by her aunt's house.

[Ccooke2]

This is a collection of short stories that describe the criminal life of several different Hispanic teenagers. The stories range anywhere from stealing things at grocery stores to ripping off people at Goodwills. The characters also range from scared to malicious.
Personally, I could have never read this and felt okay about it.
I am at a loss for the genre. Do short story collection have one genre? I think it spans many different genres. Maybe a slice of life before coming of age.

[C]

I've read a few other Soto books and this one is more or less a collection of short stories. I loved it. Soto really makes you feel sorry for his characters and understand why they do the messed up things they do. I think you can tell he has a lot of compassion for people and his books are usually themed about morals and relationships. Great read.

[Reyes12]

I think the book was funny but i didn't find a lot of interest in it since it didn't stick to a theme and every chapter was a different story. But the stories were pretty entertaining and most of them were funny. I would recommend this book to people who are bored and need a book to read, NOT book lovers.

[Sharda Edwards]

I thought this book was an okay book from all the books i'm use to. This book have its moments when it get interesting ,and then there is when it gets a little boring. I'm not saying I didn't like it but i really didn't like some of the characters. I love how they come from a world of gangs, fighting, and other things but they have they own style to who they are, they just stand out.

[Angela]

This was a fairly enjoyable read! Something quick to breeze through while riding the bus or having a morning coffee. The stories are short and all have some underlying message hidden within their lines. This collection is a great one for anyone who is familiar with or interested in learning about the inner lives of Hispanic kids growing up in poor neighborhoods.

[Taylor]

This was another Gary Soto book that I really liked. Its stories of kids who lived in Central L.A. Of the crimes they have committed, and then would have a story of how they felt about that moment. really hard to explain there are so many different sides to the story, hope you love it :)

[Keimare]

The thing that i thought about the book so far is that it has different parts in the book and it is very interesting and it makes you just want to keep reading more and more.I am excited to keep reading this book because were i m at right now in the book is very exciting .

[Erskine (Fogle) Dupree]

This is a good book. I recomend this book to who ever had problems in their child hood. This story is about some kids who constantly get in trouble and it is also about bad things going on in peoples life.

[Dulce]

This book is very good.she avoided everyone,eating her lunch in rush like a squirrel."the stories are as diverse as the characters,from cat-fighting girls to insecure boys ... a well-crafted collection that's lively,absorbing,and meaningful.''

[Alyssa Melissa]

A collection of short stories, Soto really goes in depth and allows the mind to really imagine all that is being said in the few pages. It was a great book to read and reminded me of the way my parents grew up with the stories they used to tell me.

[Denajah]

This book really gives a great point that little crimes, like stealing out of corner stores,etc. Can get you into more trouble than you think.

[Carol]

A nice selection of short stories about the day in the life of the teenage Latino culture in Fresno ,Ca. There were some really good short stories in this book.

[Kathy]

Not as engaging as some of his collections, these felt very raw and appalling in some ways.