Genre: Modern Realistic Fiction (story could really happen, chick lit)
Subjects: Young Adult Fiction - high school, family problems, alcohol & drug abuse, teen pregnancy, social issues, self-perception, LGBTQ, Mexican Americans, coming of age, dating & sex, love & romance, poetry
Audience: Ages 14 & up
Gabi Hernandez is a Mexican American high school senior writing her story in her diary. Her best friend Cindy is pregnant, her friend Sabi tells his parents he is gay and is kicked out of his house, her father is a meth addict, and Gabi struggles with her identity. She is overweight, loves food, and even hides food in her room. But Gabi wants more than what others expect of her. She wants to go to college and discovers her love and gift of writing poetry and uses it to get through the struggles of her family problems and not feeling accepted by her peers. Gabi applies to several colleges, but struggles with the decision to go to college and pursue her dreams or to stay with her family because it is the cultural norm. Gabi discovers that Cindy has been hiding a secret - the baby's father raped her. It is more than Gabi can handle and one day at school, Gabi attacks him and is suspended from school. Gabi is accepted to the college to which she wanted to go and she realizes that she has the power to make a difference and the her body does not define who she is. Quintero has created a main character that reflects upon her daily life in an honest and sometimes humorous way and uses Spanish expressions for a realistic infusion of the Mexican American culture. Readers can relate to Gabi as she endures situations to which many teens can relate and gives hope that they will also overcome them.
Awards:
California Book Award Gold Medal for Young Adult (2014)
William C. Morris YA Debut Award (2015)
Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award (2015)
Américas Award, 1993-2015 (Commended, 2015)
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, 2009-2015 (Finalist, 2015)
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