The Pool Party

by Gary Soto

Overview

Rudy Herrera is surprised and excited when he  gets an invitation to a pool party. It's from Tiffany  Perez, the richest and most popular girl in  school.

Rudy's grandmother, "El  Shorty," thinks he is going off to shoot pool.  His sister, Estela, warns him not to make a fool  of himself, or worse, embarass her. Rudy's father  teaches him how to make small talk and tells him  Tiffany will like him because he's a real person,  not a phony.

All Rudy cares about  is what to wear, what kinds of dives to do, and  what to bring Tiffany. When the big day arrives, Rudy  is in high spirits. Will he make a big splash at  the pool party?

From Grandfather  "El Shorty" to Little Rudy, the Herreras are a  family who not only live and work together, but  love and enjoy one another. Gary Soto, poet and  storyteller, gives young readers a story of simple  pleasures, simply told and simply wonderful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307830210
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/29/2013
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Born in Fresno, California, to Mexican American parents, Gary Soto is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and fiction writer. The awards for this multitalented author are many, ranging from the US Award for International Poetry Forum to a Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award, and was nominated for a National Book Award. His other credits include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council. When he is not writing, Mr. Soto serves as a volunteer English teacher at his church. He lives with his wife, Carolyn, and their daughter, Mariko, in Berkeley, California.

Editorial Reviews

As he did in The Skirt , Soto again portrays a working-class Mexican American family. When Rudy Herrera is invited to a pool party by a wealthy classmate, he muses about what it will be like and tries to come up with an appropriate gift for his hostess. Rudy's relatives offer plenty of advice on how to make small talk and his father stresses that Rudy be proud of his heritage and his family--no matter what. In the days leading up to the big event Rudy and his friend Alex get into a few scrapes, but the pool toy that they finally find ends up being the hit of the party. This time out Soto delivers a quick read, liberally flavored with slapstick humor and sprinkled with a few stereotypical situations (the boys hitch a ride with two guys who have stolen a car, for example). The novel, however, lacks the flashes of emotional intensity found in the author's other works. Nonetheless, Rudy's eccentric grandfather, self-conscious teenage sister and other colorful characters, along with snippets of Spanish, lend authenticity to this breezy slice of Hispanic life. Casilla's black-and-white pencil drawings allow for some warm facial expressions, but are otherwise fairly static and do not elaborate much on the text. Ages 7-10. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly