Off and Running

by Gary Soto

A lighthearted companion story to The Skirt and Boys at Work pits fifth-grader Miata Ramirez and her best friend and running mate, Ana, against class clown Rudy Herrera in a contest for class president.

Genres: School

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Katie Sluiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐I read this with my 5th grade students. It is a great short story that lantinx kids can connect to and has great descriptions. My students really enjoyed the story.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miata Ramirez is a fifth-grade student who has decided to run for class president. Along with her running mate, her best friend Ana, Miata has plans to help the school. But the campaign won't be easy; their opponents, Rudy and his friend Alex, are popular. Will she and Ana be able to win and help the school?

The basic premise of this story is good, but the story never really pulled me in. I was listening to the audiobook version, which was narrated by Barrie Kreinik, and it could not hold my attention. Kreinik's voice was so soothing that I kept finding my attention had wandered and I needed to back up the audiobook and listen to the part I had missed again. This happened multiple times, and I probably ended up playing the audiobook almost 3 full times just to listen to it once. I don't know whether that was a function of Kreinik's voice, the story, or just a combination of the two. Either way, I am not really inspired to read other books by Gary Soto or listen to audiobooks by Barrie Kreinik.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I imagine myself as a teenager I think I would rate this book 4 stars, but as an adult I would rate it at 3 stars simply because it was too predictable. I was also worried that it might turn into political propaganda but the author managed to avoid that.

[shawna miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like it and I will give it a 10/10

[Meg GlitteryOtters · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rick Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mowing through some of these Soto books. This one was geared more towards kids compared to the last one I read.

[Becca Hay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would definitely classify this novel in the younger adolescent book category. Is it for teenagers? No, I'd say more around 8-10 years old. Given the broad definition of "adolescent literature" it really is hard to define the age of "adolescent literature," however I personally saw this book as more a "beginning reader" than adolescent literature, however the library saw it differently. The story revolves around Miata Ramirez, a young girl looking to win the presidential election of her grade school running on the platform of ground beautification. But with an opponent, Rudy, promising longer recess and ice cream everyday, Miata doesn't see how she can compete with that. Gary Soto, author of many culturally rich novels, incorporates the Spanish language as well as many cultural aspects (food, traditions, customs, etc.) into this work and exposes children to the Spanish culture in a very subtle and positive way. In a society fraught with racism against immigration, the Ramirez family is an asset to their society and gives a different view on interracial schools. Though I found reading this book a bit boring, as the language used targeted a young audience and wasn't particularly engaging to my mind, I would definitely recommend this book to a younger adolescent audience as one which will teach these young, impressionable children how skin color and culture doesn't make someone bad, just different from you. The plot, while predictable and a bit exaggerated at times (ex. Miata writes the President of the United States and at the end of the book he has his personal secretary write her a letter in which he personally responds to her letter) is simple enough for young readers to follow and the story promotes a good message of going for what you want, and achieving it through hard work and keeping your promises.

[Jaxon Pillich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talks about a fifth grader named Miata Ramirez is running for class president.Her best freind Ana is her running mate.They are stunned when they learn they are running against a class clown named Rudy Herrera and his freind Alex.At first Miata is certain to win the election.She has big plans to make the school a cleaner place she says she'll clean graffiti plant flowers trees and get computers.But rudy confident he'll get more votes by having longer recess periods and selling ice cream every day.But in the end Miata win the election and was named class president.

[Mrs. Bahns · Rating 2 out of 5]

i got asigned to this book and didnt enjoy it much...it kept on talking about all these random things!- Danyel

This book wasn't very good because it didn't pull the reader's in.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice motivating book for kids, with very likable characters.

[Reving · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://revingsblog.blogspot.com/2016/...

[Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT

[Zachary Lurie]

I need to freaking read the freaking book