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Published on Dec 16, 2014 | 7 Hours 59 Minutes
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.
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.
Author
Isabel Quintero
Isabel Quintero is an award-winning writer and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, her first YA novel, was the recipient of multiple awards, including the Morris Award for Debut YA Novel. She is also the author of chapter books and a non-fiction YA graphic biography, Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide, which was awarded the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. My Papi Has a Motorcycle earned the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Award, the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, and many other recognitions.Zeke Peña is a Xicano storyteller and professional doodler from El Paso, TX, the Sun City. His author-illustrator debut, Sundust, is a love poem to desert culture and won a Caldecott Honor. Zeke also received Ezra Jack Keats and Pura Belpré Illustration Honors for My Papi Has a Motorcycle and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for his illustrations in Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide. He illustrated the New York Times bestselling Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel. Zeke is currently drawing more books in his tiny studio in NW Arkansas.
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