Neighborhood Odes by Gary Soto

Soto, Gary, and David Diaz. Neighborhood Odes. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. Print. ISBN: 0-15-302259-0.

Brief plot summary:

Neighborhood Odes is a book of free verse poems (odes) written by Gary Soto. Each poem describes an event (like watching fireworks) or object (like tennis shoes or tortillas) that Soto remembers from growing up in his Mexican American neighborhood.

Critical analyses:

Overall impression: Good selection of free verse poems for describing Mexican American culture as a child. The poems didn't seem to flow like I would have liked, but the humor and relatability (for all kids) made it worth reading.

This book of poems revolves around Mexican American culture (particularly, Soto’s own childhood). Soto uses Spanish words throughout the poems to emphasize the Mexican American culture.The characters are not stereotyped, but in fact based on actual people. Their cultural experiences are authentic and relatable not only to Mexican Americans, but most Americans in general. Kids from all backgrounds can relate to getting snow cones (raspados) and running through the sprinklers in the summer, or playing with their dog (perrito) or cat (gato), or watching fireworks go off. In addition to Soto’s poems, the illustrations by David Diaz add to the cultural aspect of the book. He used woodcuts to complement some of the poems which gave the words a bit of life without taking away from the author’s stories.

Review excerpts:

“Sprinkled throughout the unrhymed verse, Spanish words give a flavor of difference, though many of the experiences are universal.”

--Booklist, 1992

“The memories and experiences of Hispanic children are celebrated in a collection of short-lined poems.”

--Kirkus, 1992

Connections (related books, activities, children’s responses, etc.):

Related reading: I like the idea of pairing an individual poem from the book with a whole other story. For example, Soto’s “Ode to My Library” could go with Pat Mora’s Tomas and the Library Lady or Soto’s “Ode to Los Raspados” with Carmen Tafolla’s What Can You Do with a Paleta?

Activities: Children can discuss the different ways to write poems and how it doesn’t have to rhyme to be poetry, kids could infer what the Spanish words mean after reading the poems, or they could talk about how their experiences relate to those of Soto’s childhood.