Hispanic/Latino(a) Lit- PARTLY CLOUDY

Bibliographic Data

Soto, Gary. 2009. Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing. Boston: Harcourt. ISBN: 9780152063016

Brief Plot Summary

This is s collection of Soto’s poems about coming of age teens and the highs and lows of 

love.

Critical Analysis

The collection is split in two, male and female. The first half is entitled A Girl’s Tears, Her Songs and the second half is A Boy’s Body, His Words. It’s interesting that Soto chose to refer to teens as girls and boys here. Upon further reading I found many poems were indeed in the time of a teen’s life in which they are not quite men and women. The titles of the poems alone do not indicate much let alone cultural markers.

In Natural Talent (under A Girl’s Tears, Her Songs) we see the male character defy male stereotypes as he is knowledgeable about cooking and sewing. The poems often leave out gender pronouns, but the context is telling of the characters gender. In Black Books we see the female character dismayed that the male character does not uphold the stereotype of paying for his date.

Absent from most poems is the description of what the characters look like, no hint of hair color, skin tone, race, ethnicity, etc. When it does come up the cultures come in a variety. Not until the poem Meaning What do we see evidence of some kind of cultural markers. The last name of Jennifer Lee is an Asian name. The poem also identifies a phrase as Mandarin, “Wo xi huan ni” (2009, p.20).

The poem Barriers features a Japanese girl and a Mexican boy. A short phrase of Japanese and Spanish are within the poem. Amorously the female character envisions their skin color “becoming one” (2009, p. 25), but does not say what that color is.

Though it does indicate the ethnic background of the female character, the poem Beautiful Trouble states she speaks six languages (2009, p. 58).

In Simple Me Soto describes peas moving on the plate as dancing the samba, which a Brazilian dance (2009, p. 61).

Judging by the vocabulary, language, and culture these poems seem very American. Readers will find a melding of cultures as well as references to American music and food.

Awards & Best Books

Paterson Award for Sustained Excellence in Literature for Young People, 2009

Beehive Book Award, 2011; Nominee

Review Excerpt(s)

“Young teens will enjoy the "love sick" puns and the metaphors, lyrical and sad, that show there is poetry in the way they speak.”

- Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Feb. 15, 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 12))

“Soto successfully captures the emotion behind each voice in a way that gives the young reader a glimpse of what it is like to be in love. Targeting middle school readers, this easy-to-read collection of poems is a great read for both for boys and girls.”

-Sarah Camille Hipp (Children's Literature)

“The deceptively simple poems examine love from many angles in verses that are by turns funny and poignant.”

- Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2009 (Vol. 77, No. 2)

Connections

Have students select a poem they would like to read aloud. After a student reads their poem then ask the other students to tell the class emotions the poem evokes. The reader can play teacher and pick the students to answer.