The Spark and Fire of It

By Gary Soto

Love is a good thing--so true in The Spark and Fire of It , this classic one-act romance: two young people smitten to the point of delirium and a gruff father who will have none of it. The father sees his daughter's suitor only as a penniless lad with nothing to offer. But the young woman's mother sees her own husband in the young man, remembering a time when he, too, was an empty-handed suitor. Add internal complications: the young women questions her own judgment, and the young man is tempted by a hooligan called Rascal. Then there is Old Gentleman, who, like a befuddled Socrates, understands this thing called love. The romance contains poems that begin with a line of Shakespeare that Soto artfully extends into his own original poetry. The dialogue is written in the vernacular of Elizabethan times--though occasionally it falls into contemporary street slang. The code switching reminds readers that love is a human experience that makes the young go crazy no matter the century!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1622881729
• ISBN13: 9781622881727
• Release Date: October 2017
• Publisher: Stephen F. Austin University Press
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12