Gabi, A Girl in Pieces

By: Isabel Quintero

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2014

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.

Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: 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.

Includes a PDF of Gabi's 'Zine.

Read it

I love this book, I read it in college and I had to listen to it! Loved it but come on. Why are you going to read with a fake accent and not even be able to pronounce the Spanish words correctly! That annoyed me the most! Ruined such a great book

Loved it!!!

I am surprised at how much I liked this book. It was so real and raw!

A must read for Latinas and their mothers

The author has definitely taken time to describe some very poignant cultural rules for Mexican girls. "Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas" was my favorite quote from the novel.

A+

My SO heard about this book on NPR and recommended it to me. As a Mexican-American woman who remembers my parents strict cultural expectations all too well, I felt that this book really captured what it is like to grow up with a foot in two worlds.

I didn't really like the narrator, I felt her performance at times was too stiff.

Oh the sweet HS years!

loved living so many of my HS memories through Gabbi. The narrator threw me off when she miss pronounced many of the spanish words- but besides that it was a great book.