Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing by Gary Soto

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1. Bibliography

Soto, Gary. Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. ISBN 9780152063016

2. Plot Summary

In this book of poetry, well-known Latino author Gary Soto writes about love through the eyes of young people. His poems are written from the perspective of both girls and boys. His young narrators convey the typical thoughts of adolescents as they fall in (or out) of love for the first time. They experience the smorgasbord of emotions that go along with being in love. As Soto writes, “Love is like the weather: / sometimes stormy, / sometimes sunny, / sometimes partly cloudy.” Soto explores this topic of love with the sweetness and innocence of youth. Young audiences relate to his poems, and more mature audiences are fondly reminded of days gone by.

3. Critical Analysis

Gary Soto writes the poems in this collection in a way that is authentic to middle and high school students. The poems jump from emotion to emotion, exactly like the emotions of adolescents. One day they’re madly in love and the next day they’re broken-hearted and never speaking to that person again. Each poem captures a thought or feeling that is here today (on one page) and gone tomorrow (by the time the page is turned). The poems are unique in style - most are written in free verse, with some including stanzas with two or more lines each.

Soto’s book is divided into two parts - “A Girl’s Tears, Her Songs” and “A Boy’s Body, His Words.” The first part includes 39 poems about love from a girl’s perspective. Topics range from crushes to first kisses to wanting to be invisible to the cruelty of boys to being completely in love. The poems are relatable for teens and humorous for adults. For example, “First Kiss” is told by a girl who spends hours and hours telling her best friend about her first kiss that only took seconds to happen, and “When I Lost You” is told by a girl who has been wounded by love. She says, “Now I’m the color of / a bruise, / And you’re faded yellow, / The color of lies.” What teenage girl hasn’t felt those emotions after being hurt by the one she “loves?”

The second part of the book, “A Boy’s Body, His Words” includes 38 poems about love from a boy’s perspective. In this section, Soto writes from the perspective of boys who see girls as “Beautiful Trouble,” jock athletes who are “weakened by love,” boys who experience the beauty of women as “another kind of hurt,” and boys with a wandering eye. In the poem “Faces,” a boy is flirting with one girl between third and fourth period, “And by fifth period - / I don’t know how / This happened - I fell / In love with this other / Girl.” This poem, like many others, leaves the reader laughing out loud.

While this collection of poems doesn’t specifically speak about the Latino culture, the ability of these young girls and boys to express their emotions outrightly portrays the Latino culture. In these poems, Latino youth show that they “love” love, and they don’t hold back their pain or anger towards love. The Latino culture is very expressive in their emotions, and this collection of poems is an excellent example of that expression.

4. Review Excerpts

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (March 1, 2009): "Soto skillfully captures the voice and emotions of young teens in love."

From BOOKLIST (February 15, 2009): "Young teens will enjoy the ‘love sick’ puns and the metaphors, lyrical and sad, that show there is poetry in the way they speak."

5. Connections

Gather other books written by Gary Soto such as:

• Baseball in April and Other Stories. ISBN 978-0152025670
• Too Many Tamales. ISBN 978-0698114128
• Chato’s Kitchen. ISBN 978-0698116009

After reading this book of poems, have students write a love poem of their own. They can either write from their perspective or from the perspective of the opposite gender.