Gabi, Fragmentos de Una Adolescente / Gabi, a Girl in Pieces Paperback - 2020

From the publisher

Gabi an no entiende quin es. Escribir la ayudar a juntar sus pedazos.

Gabi Hernndez est en su ltimo ao de la preparatoria. Para entretenerse, escribe todo lo que le pasa en su diario: las solicitudes a las universidades, el embarazo de Cindy, cuando Sebastin sali del clset, los chicos guapos de su clase, la adiccin de su padre a la metanfetamina, y toda la comida que se le antoja. Pero lo mejor de todo lo que escribe es la poesa que la ayuda a ser quien es.

24 de julio
Mi madre me llam Gabriela en honor de mi abuela materna, quien, por cierto, no quiso conocerme cuando nac porque mi mam no estaba casada, es decir, viva en pecado. Mi mam me cont muchas, muchas, muchas veces cmo mi abuela la golpe cuando le confes que estaba embarazada de m. Le dio una paliza! A los veinticinco aos. Esa historia es la base de mi educacin sexual. Cada vez que salgo con alguien, mi mam dice, "Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas". Hasta ah llega la conversacin de las abejitas y las flores. Y por m est bien, aun si no estoy enteramente de acuerdo con toda esa basura de "esperar hasta que te cases". O sea, esto es Estados Unidos y es el siglo XXI, no Mxico hace cien aos. Pero, claro, no se lo puedo decir a mi mam porque pensara que soy mala. O peor: que intento ser blanca.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Named to Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2014
Named to School Library Journal Best Books of 2014
Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in 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.

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