Quintero, I.  (2014).  Gabi: A girl in pieces.  TX:  Cinco Puntos

This book chronicles Gabi Hernandez’ last year in high school via her diary.  She talks about the cute boys, how bad her father’s drug habit is, the foods she loves, her friend, Cindy’s pregnancy and Sebastian coming out as homosexual.  It also touches on subjects such as death, rape religion and race.Gabi wants to connect with her primarily white social culture, but she’s afraid that her mother might accuse her of trying to be white.  The poetry that helps her forge her identity is a huge part of the story.

I really enjoyed the language and character development.  We get a clear view of Gabi’s emotions and feelings through her diary entries and poetry. This text could be used for students to emulate her writing both in style and genre.  Encouraging letter writing to deal with personal issues and creating poetry to express their feelings a both excellent ways of adapting this text to writing lessons.

Some others books that could be offered as follow ups are “What Can’t Wait” by Ashley Peres and “Under the Mesquite”I  by Guadalupe Garcia MacCall.