Living Up The Street

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

A Summer Life by Gary Soto

• Another collection of Soto’s memoir essays on growing up in Fresno, California, this work is divided into three parts: young childhood, early adolescence, and late adolescence.
• This work features more of Soto’s image-heavy style and explores similar themes of Identity and Environment.
• A Summer Life on SuperSummary

"Saturday at the Canal” by Gary Soto

• This free verse poem features two teen boys having a conversation about being anywhere but the poem’s setting.
• offers an opportunity for readers to compare Soto’s prose and poetry
• “Saturday at the Canal” on SuperSummary

 They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems by David Bowles

• a novel in verse that makes use of several different poetic forms
• features a Chicano protagonist, a more contemporary setting, and exploration of themes that relate to Soto’s work and life: Race, Identity, and education
• They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems on SuperSummary

 Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake

• Flake’s novel explores work, money, and Poverty more with more intense and personal prose.
• Raspberry, the protagonist, is formerly homeless, and obsessively hustles and saves money to prevent becoming homeless again.
• Money Hungry on SuperSummary

Other Student Resources

Poems By Gary Soto

• The Poetry Foundation has several poems by Gary Soto published online and free to read.

Common Examples of Figurative Language

• This resource will help students build figurative language vocabulary with the help of some simple examples.

Morton Marcuse Poetry Reading: 2019

• In 2019, The Humanities Institute at University of California Santa Cruz awarded Soto the 10th Annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading.
• Soto reads his poetry and lectures for about 50 minutes.

“How the Chicano Movement Championed Mexican-American Identity and Fought for Change”

• a brief article from The History Channel explaining the various threads of the Chicano Movement from the 1960s

Teacher Resources

Family, Homeland, Revolution: Stories of the Chicano Movement

• This 2018 exhibit overview and the accompanying images from the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, CA provide a visual representation of the Chicano Art Movement.
• Themes explored link the art movement to the social and civil rights movement.

“Chicano Art: An Emerging Generation”

• An LA Times article explores the Chicano Art Movement in Los Angeles.
• features interviews with artists

“El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement and Hispanic Identity in the United States”

• a brief article from the National Archives Pieces of History series
• includes archival photos and links to other relevant information and items