Poetry collections
- Downtime (Gunpowder Press, 2023)
- Meatballs for the People: Proverbs to Chew On (Red Hen Press, 2017)
- Sudden Loss of Dignity. Stephen F. Austin University Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1-62288-005-8.
- Partly Cloudy: Poems of love and longing (Harcourt, 2009)
- A Simple Plan (Chronicle Books, 2007)
- One Kind of Faith (Chronicle Books, 2003)
- A Natural Man (Chronicle Books, 1999)
- Junior College (1997)
- New and selected poems (Chronicle Books, 1995) National Book Award finalist
- Canto Familiar/Familiar Song (1994)
- Neighborhood Odes (1992)
- Home Course in Religion (1991)
- Saturday at the Canal (1991)
- Who Will Know Us? (1990)
- Black Hair (1985)
- Where Sparrows Work Hard (1981)
- The Tale of Sunlight (1978)
- The Elements of San Joaquin (1977)
- Waiting at the curb: Lynwood California (1967)
Young adult/children's books
- Baseball in April (1990)
- A Fire in My Hands (1991)
- Taking Sides (1991)
- Pacific Crossing (1992), sequel to Taking Sides added by DaeQuan Jones
- Too Many Tamales (1992)
- The Skirt (1992)
- The Pool Party (1993)
- Local News (1993)
- Jesse (1994)
- 7th grade (1995)
- Crazy Weekend (1994)
- Boys at Work (1995)
- Summer On Wheels (1995)
- Canto Familiar (1995)
- Buried Onions (1997)
- The Cat's Meow (1997)
- Jessie De La Cruz: A Profile of a United Farm Worker (2000)
- Fearless Fernie (2002)
- If the Shoe Fits (2002)
- Marisol (2005)
- When Dad Came Back (2011), ebook
Chato
Beginning in 1995 with Chato's Kitchen (Chato y su cena),[11] Soto released a series of children's picture books in Spanish and English about a real, cool cat (gato), a low rider from the barrio of East Los Angeles. They were illustrated by Susan Guevara, and the second one Chato and the Party Animals (Chato y los amigos pachangueros.) (2000) won the Pura Belpre Medal for best illustration in 2002.[12] The series continued with Chato Goes Cruisin' (2004) [13] and Chato's Day of Dead (2006).
Anthologies as editor
- Entrance: Four Latino Poets (1976)
- California Childhood (1988)
- Pieces of Heart (1993)
- Afterlife(1999)
Memoir
- Why I Don't Write Children's Literature (2015)
- What Poets Are Like: Up and Down with the Writing Life (2013)
- Living Up the Street (1985), American Book Award
- Small Faces (1986)
- Lesser Evils: Ten Quartets (1988)
- A Summer Life (1990)
- The Effects of Knut Hamsun on a Fresno Boy (2001)
- The Jacket (1983)
Plays
- Novio Boy: A play (2006)
Film
- The No-Guitar Blues (1991) based on a story from Baseball in April[14]
- The Bike (1991, director)[15]
- The Pool Party (producer, 1992) Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video (1993)
- Novio Boy (1994, director)[16]
