A Fire In My Hands

A book review by Becky Laney

Soto, Gary. 1991. A Fire In My Hands. New York: Scholastic. ISBN: 0-590-45021-2.

This poetry collection by Gary Soto is wonderful. Each of the twenty-three poems is prefaced by an introduction. Many poems are reflections about Soto's own life and experiences. There are, for example, a series of poems written about/for his daughter. Other poems capture childhood memories. There is a poem about the British Invasion entitled "Heaven" which I enjoyed because of my extreme devotion to The Beatles. Other poems capture childhood memories of first crushes, best friends, etc. Poems written about liking girls (etc.) include: "That Girl", "Oranges" and "Brown Girl, Blonde Okie." "That Girl" talks about how easy it was to get distracted from doing his homework because he kept noticing different girls as they walked by in the library. Some poems speak about what life was like/is like growing up within the Mexican American culture while others are more universal in nature. All the poems were well crafted and enjoyable to read. What I also liked about this collection was how personal the poems were. Soto went out of his way to show how writing poetry is a reflection of real life. His question and answer feature at the back of the book was priceless. I greatly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to others.

Culture Three Readings:

• My Own True Name, by Pat Mora
• A Fire In My Hands, by Gary Soto
• Fiesta Fireworks, by George Ancona
• From The Belly Button of the Moon: And Other Summer Poems, by Francisco X. Alarc�n