Orem Library

The Mexican American author Gary Soto draws on his own experience of growing up in Californias Central Valley in this finely crafted collection of eleven short stories that reveal big themes in the small events of daily life. Crooked teeth, ponytailed girls, embarrassing grandfathers, imposter Barbies, annoying brothers, Little League tryouts, and karate lessons weave the colorful fabric of Sotos world. The smart, tough, vulnerable...

"A girl named Petra Pena, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person...

"1890: When Desiderya Lopez, The Sleepy Prophet, finds an abandoned infant on the banks of an arroyo, she recognizes something in his spirit and brings him home. Pidre will go on to become a famous showman in the Anglo West whose main act, Simodecea, is Pidre's fearless, sharpshooting wife, who wrangles bears as part of his show. 1935: Luz "Little Light" Lopez and her brother Diego work the carnival circuit in downtown Denver. Luz, is a tea leaf reader,...

Nine-year-old Gregory paints pictures representing the life of the Mexican American old man known as Uncle Pancho and attempts to save him from losing his house.

Maria tries on her mother's wedding ring while helping make tamales for a Christmas family get-together. Panic ensues when she realizes, hours later, the ring is missing.

"Rafael tries to save his toys from his baby sister, Essie, by building a wall from shoeboxes, toilet paper rolls, and other household objects in this playful exploration of 3-D geometry and spatial reasoning"--

Juanita receives a dove for her fourth birthday and takes him to the Old Mission Church for the blessing of the animals.

After leaving Earth, now devastated by an alien attack, and exploring the galaxy, Clover Martinez and her fellow teen survivors return home to find crystal formations in the soil that are threatening to destroy the planet, and a colony of survivors who are not who they seem. Clover Martinez and the Last Teenagers on Earth are exploring the galaxy after leaving Earth behind, even if they are homesick. When their ship receives a distress signal from...

Thirteen-year-old Güero stands by and supports his first girlfriend, Joanna, after the sudden deportation of her father.

When nineteen-year-old Eddie drops out of college, he struggles to find a place for himself as a Mexican American living in a violence-infested neighborhood of Fresno, California.