Local News: Stories

Rating:
Summary: a good book overall but with an intended audience
Review: I read "Local News" for my college Children's Literature course. The teacher assigned it for the week on multi-cultural literature. The book itself was okay, but I believe it has a limited audience. Gary Soto wrote the book for two purposes. One was to show everyone that Mexican-American children are really no different than any other children. The second was to provide Mexican-American children with literature that contained Mexican-American characters, kids that they felt they could relate to. So, in that aspect, it was a good book. I would highly recommend it to anyone specifically looking for Mexican-American characters or for any parents or teachers looking to teach their children and students about kids in other cultures and to broaden their horizons.

Rating:
Summary: Local News
Review: Recently, I gained the privilege to read a book that was written by Gary Soto. The book that I read was entitled, Local News. Throughout this short book, Gary describes 11 different situations that are common for teenagers growing up in Hispanic neighborhoods. I will give a brief, yet detailed description of five of my favorite stories.

Chapter #1: Blackmail Blackmail was about a dispute between two teenage brothers. The setting takes place in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood located in California. Angel, who was the younger brother, found himself being picked on by his older brother named Javier. (Javier's nickname was Weasel) One day while Angel was taking a shower, Weasel snuck into the bathroom and took a picture of Angel, who obviously was bare-naked. Weasel threatened to show the picture to all of the girls at school if he did not give him $20.00. Angel, who was extremely angry yelled, `You punk, I'm going to get you!' His threat was worthless though. His older brother had absolutely no fear of him. Angel was very nervous because he didn't have $20.00 to give him, nor would he want to waste that much money on such a stupid joke. Finally, when Weasel realized that Angel wasn't capable of paying the ransom, he forced him to do his chores instead. Although Angel resented doing his brother's chores, he accepted the job. In the end, Weasel began to feel sorry for his younger brother and gave him the picture back.

Chapter #3: First Job

This chapter was about a 13-year-old boy named Alex. The setting took place on a hot summer day. Alex, who was the main character, had an older brother and sister and one younger brother. Both of his older siblings had jobs and were making money, which made Alex jealous. One day, Alex was asked to rake and burn some leaves for a woman named Mrs. Martinez. She offered him one dollar therefore he accepted the job. After Alex was finished raking the leaves in a pile, he lit a match and started the pile on fire. Just then, he realized that he had left his younger brother alone at home. Therefore, he decided to run home to make sure he was content. While he was away from the fire, it spread to Mrs. Martinez's deck. This event added some suspense to the story. When Alex returned to her house, a neighbor was already there and had the fire under control. Due to the fire, Mrs. Martinez was very angry and refused to pay Alex for the job. Unfortunately, that was Alex's first experience of having a job.

Chapter #4: El radio This chapter was about two teenage girls who had a small party together. The event took place in Patricia's home on a Friday night; her parents were not home. The other character, who was named Melinda, came over to listen to the radio with Patricia. As the two girls listened to the radio, they started to act crazy. Consequently, they spilled a bucket of popcorn and made a mess. When their parents returned home they were angry with the two girls. Finally, the girls were able to cheer up their parents by doing something very unique. You will have to read the story to discover what happened. This chapter possessed an exiting theme because it described the friendship of two girls.

Chapter #5: Push-up Push-up was the name of Carmen's new kitten. Carmen was a young girl living in a Spanish-American community. Her new kitten was very cute and was always receiving the family's attention. That made their other cat jealous. Therefore, it always fought with Push-up. One day, Carmen brought her kitten to school with her to protect him from the other cat. I thought that was an extremely risky idea. Therefore, I feel that this story contained a high level of suspense. When she and her kitten arrived at school, she secretly placed it in the ball container. Carmen felt bad for the kitten and said, `It will be ok, it is for your own good.' As the day passed by, Carmen struggled keeping the kitten a secret. In order to learn what happened to her and her cat, I suggest that you read this story.

Chapter #10: Nickel-A-Pound Plane Ride The main character of this story was Araceli. Araceli was a twelve-year-old with skin the color of brown sugar. Her dream was to fly in an airplane. One day, she finally got her chance. When she climbed into the plane's passenger area, she noticed that the engine was very loud. Therefore, she became a little nervous. As the plane began to take off, she became even more nervous when it rocked back and forth. She gradually began to feel unsafe. After the ride was over, she realized that flying was not all that she hoped it would be. The theme of this story was sad. The setting was on a cold rainy day, which gave the story a gloomy effect. When Araceli realized that she did not like flying, I was disappointed because it was her dream to fly.

After reading Local News by Gary Soto, I now have a better understanding of what a typical teenager's life was like in Spanish-American communities. Although this book was simple and easy to read, I feel that I have benefited from reading it because Gary Soto did an outstanding job of displaying each character's styles and traits in their everyday environment. If you are interested in learning about Spanish-American communities, I recommend reading this book.