Gabi, A Girl in Pieces

By Isabel Quintero
Paperback: $16.95

In this groundbreaking William C. Morris Award winner for a YA debut, Gabi’s life is a mess–her family, her friends, her attempts at a love life–but writing helps, especially since it turns out she’s pretty good at poetry.

Description

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year of high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

July 24

My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. BEAT HER! She was twenty-five. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone. And I don’t mind it. I don’t necessarily agree with that whole wait until you’re married crap, though. I mean, this is America and the 21st century; not Mexico one hundred years ago. But, of course, I can’t tell my mom that because she will think I’m bad. Or worse: trying to be White.

About the Creators

Isabel Quintero headshot. Isabel has straight, shoulder-length auburn hair with bangs and wears glasses and a black and white button-up shirt in front of bookshelves.
Isabel Quintero

Isabel Quintero is an award-winning writer from the Inland Empire. Her works include: Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, Ugly Cat and Pablo and Ugly Cat and Pablo and the Missing Brother (both illustrated by Tom Knight), Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide (illustrated by Zeke Peña), My Papi Has a Motorcycle (illustrated by Zeke Peña), several anthologies, and most recently Mamá’s Panza (illustrated by Iliana Galvez). Find out more at isabelinpieces.com.

Awards

  • William C. Morris YA Debut Award Winner

    Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

  • Best Fiction for Young Adults

    Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

  • Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

    Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

  • Amelia Bloomer Book List

    American Library Association (ALA)

  • Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award

    Texas State University College of Education

  • Américas Award Commended Title

    Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs

  • Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist

    The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN)

  • Editors' Choice Books for Youth

    Booklist

  • Best Books of the Year

    School Library Journal

  • Children's Books of the Year

    Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

  • Best Books of the Year

    Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature

  • Los Angeles Public Library Best Books

    Los Angeles Public Library

  • Best Books for Teens

    THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY.

  • Arkansas Teen Book Award Nominee

    Arkansas State Library

  • California Book Awards Winner

    Commonwealth Club

  • California Reads Recommended

    California Teachers Association

  • Capitol Choices

    Capitol Choices

  • Nutmeg Awards Nominee

    Connecticut Library Association

  • Lincoln Award Nominee

    Association of Illinois School Library Educators

  • Read Aloud Indiana

    Indiana Library Federation

  • Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee

    Indiana Library Federation

  • Land of Enchantment Book Award Winner

    New Mexico Library Association

  • Oregon Reader's Choice Award Nominee

    Oregon State Literacy Association

  • Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee

    Rhode Island Library Association

  • Volunteer State Book Award Nominee

    Tennessee Library Association

  • TAYSHAS Reading List

    Texas Library Association (TLA)

  • Virginia Readers' Choice Nominee

    Virginia State Literacy Association

Reviews

  • * "Reading Quintero's debut is like attending a large family fiesta: it's overpopulated with people, noise, and emotion, but the overall effect is joyous."

    - Booklist
  • * "Readers won't soon forget Gabi, a young woman coming into her own in the face of intense pressure from her family, culture and society to fit someone else's idea of what it means to be a 'good' girl. A fresh, authentic and honest exploration of contemporary Latina identity."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • * "Quintero's first novel quickly establishes a strong voice and Mexican-American cultural perspective through the journal of intelligent, self-deprecating, and funny Gabi. . . Her narration is fresh, self-aware, and reflective. The intimate journal structure of the novel is especially revealing as Gabi gains confidence in her own integrity and complexity."

    - Publishers Weekly
  • "Believing she's not Mexican enough for her family and not white enough for Berkeley, Gabi still meets every challenge head-on with vulgar humor and raw honesty. . . A refreshing take on slut- and fat-shaming, Quintero's work ranks with Meg Medina's Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (Candlewick, 2013) and Junot Diaz's Drown (Riverhead, 1996) as a coming-of-age novel with Latino protagonists."

    - School Library Journal
  • "Gabi's voice is a completely bicultural and bilingual voice, so throughout the novel, you will have Spanish and English the way it's really spoken in our families -- it's this crazy sort of Spanglish mix. And she's bold. She will say the quote-unquote unthinkable things about her body, about sexuality, about the crazy, dual sets of rules for Latino boys and girls."

    - National Public Radio (NPR)
  • "Meet Quintero's "fat girl" Gabi, eating and starving and fighting and writing her way through the crushing pressures of high school boy desire, religious approval and Mexican cultural taboos. I cannot think of any book today for young adults as voracious, bold, truthful and timely."

    - Juan Felipe Herrera, award-winning poet & U.S. Poet Laureate, 2015-2017

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781935955955
  • Publication Date Oct 14, 2014
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.6875 lbs
  • Page Count 208
  • Interests

  • Audience Young Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 YAF / People & Places / United States / Hispanic & Latino
  • BISAC Category 2 YAF / Social Themes / Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse
  • BISAC Category 3 YAF / Social Themes / Dating & Sex
  • Themes Families, Fiction, Identity / Self Esteem / Confidence, Latinx / Latino / Hispanic, LGBTQIA+, Mothers, Overcoming Obstacles, Poetry, Realistic Fiction, Spanish, Teen Interest, YA interest
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 14 - 18
  • Grade Range Grades 9 - 12
  • Guided Reading Z+
  • ATOS Book Level 10
  • DRA 80
  • Interest Level Grades 6 - 12
  • Lexile Code HL
  • Lexile Level 820
  • Reading Level Grades 8 - 9
  • Bebop Reading Advanced
  • This Book is Included in These Collections:

    • 31
      Young Adult Collection
      Collection of 31 books: $564.50

      Temporarily unavailable

      This product is currently unavailable.
    • 19
      English Guided Reading Level Z+
      Collection of 19 books: $280.05

      412 in stock

    • 17
      LGBTQ+ Collection
      Collection of 17 books: $283.15

      412 in stock

    • 107
      High-Low Books for Teens: Middle and High School
      Collection of 107 books: $1,639.70