Summer on Wheels

by Gary Soto

Hector and his best friend Mondo enjoy many exciting adventures when they take a six-day bike trip from their East Los Angeles neighborhood to the Santa Monica beach during summer vacation.

Genres: Young Adult

163 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Gary Soto is the author of eleven poetry collections for adults, most notably New and Selected Poems, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. His poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including Ploughshares, Michigan Quarterly, Poetry International, and Poetry, which has honored him with the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Award and by featuring him in the interview series Poets in Person. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. For ITVS, he produced the film “The Pool Party,” which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Film Excellence. In 1997, because of his advocacy for reading, he was featured as NBC’s Person-of-the-Week. In 1999, he received the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and the PEN Center West Book Award for Petty Crimes. He divides his time between Berkeley, California and his hometown of Fresno.

Reviews

[(A) Archers at KIPP · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I have learned about this book is that a journey is less about where you are going than what you discover on your way there there was a lot of adventures and also there is a lot of things that would be able to inspire a person to be able to do really good things in the world like these boys have done on there journey and also they were able to learn many more things on there way.

[NeverLoved]

This Book IS AWESOME

[Michael Akosile]

Hector and Mando have awesome trips by meeting people and getting graeat thinga on their biking trip

[Duncan Prescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful "road trip" on bicycles through the LA region was rather light and without a whole lot of conflict. Comedic and great characters throughout. Loved Hector.

[Nancy Perez Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer On Wheels by Gary Soto is a another story about Hector and his friend Mando who go on a bike adventure. Throughout the book Hector and Mando encounter different events and situations. When reading this book I found myself enjoying how Hector and Mando were being portrayed. These two friends can be so relatable to young readers! I loved how Hector and Mando have this comedic personality, that makes the book so entertaining. I liked that Gary Soto also included aspects of the Mexican American culture through the personalities and events that Hector and Mando had. Like the other Gary Soto books, I also enjoyed how he incorporated both English and Spanish in his writing because it makes his books more diverse for readers but also includes a plot that can be understood by all readers! I think this is an exciting chapter book for upper level readers to try!

[Amia · Rating 5 out of 5]

|I thought it was an engaging book that had a good story line.The characters were likeable, and there were funny jokes then and again. I think the interactions with the different characters they meet make the book more interesting. I recommend for 9-14.

[Elizabeth Clevenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a fan of Gary Soto. I think I’ve read this one about three or four times. Such a delightful read bc it makes you want to be a kid again and jump on a bike for your own across-town adventure, not to mention it is all about the warmth of a large Mexican American family. Such a great story!

[Brionna Kincaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about these two antics. It was like a road trip and the reader was coming along for the ride.

[Jordan Villalobos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was like an adventure while sitting down, and I loved that they added a little Spanish to the book to add the Latino effect. I loved this book!!

[Mr. Wakiki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, for diversity alone it is great.

[Hava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun lo-hi book

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cute, short love letter to LA and spending time with your friends and family.

[Lann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was disappointing. I usually love Gary Soto's writing, and I use it with my junior high students often, especially his short stories and poems. Summer on Wheels was filled with stereotypical dialogue that was too much--I started calling my husband "Vato" just because. While it was silly and obviously meant to show that even East Los boys are more than the box we might put them in, it turned them into caricatures.
All that said, it might make a great comic movie for my same junior high students. Road trip movies with a moral can actually be fun. Weird that I'll accept this as a movie but not a book---

[Maria Rizo-campos]

The story is about a fieldtrip that two boys did in bike without adult supervision.
There are a lot of Hispanic jokes that make the trip enjoyable and funny. I recommend this book if people want to know more about the Latinos’ life style and some vocabulary.

[Mike Hytrek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really hits home with me because I love summer and my best memories are in summer. This book talks about 2 boys who want to go explore their summer, and that is my favorite part of the summer.

[Vonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, quick story of two friends that took a 6 day bike journey from East LA to Santa Monica. I highly enjoyed their adventures as they made pit stops along the way to visit family. This book made me wish that I could have done something similar when I was their age. 3.5 stars

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those stars were solely because the book was in Spanish. A quick summer read, enjoyable, yet nothing special. Overall, a good book.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little book about ten-year old boys on a bike trip visiting family members around LA. Lots of Spanish culture spices up their macho adventure. :)

[Clynton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A superficial accounting of two young friends who go on a adventure together, learning the meaning of family, and friends

[Candice Gibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in summer 2024 with Ava and Owen. They really enjoyed it and started calling each other homey. Great summer book.

[Cornelius Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was the best book ever

[Baronus]

ok

[Javareya]

cdds