YA Book and Antiracism

One of the best, most underrated books that I have ever read is called Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero. The book follows a teenage girl named Gabi as she goes through her senior year of high school. Throughout that school year, Gabi struggles with issues surrounding her race, drug abuse from family members, first love, sexuality, gender roles, and how race intersects with all of these. Gabi is literally “a girl in pieces” as she figures out her social location within the world. It really was one of the best novels I had read in a while and I think it would make a great introduction to not only discussing intersectionality within the classroom, but beginning a discussion on antiracism.

As a class we read about the ways that we can reimagine ELA classrooms to really begin to discuss race and the ways it effects the culture of a classroom. One of the primary ways was allowing use of translanguaging, codeswitching, and allowing students to use their native languages within their writing and/or providing students with literature that includes different languages. Throughout Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, the main character and her family switch between English and Spanish. Though most of the novel is Gabi told through Gabi’s journal entries, she tends to explain situations in Spanish in ways that even students whose first language is English, could still use reading strategies and context clues to understand the writing.

Another way I could see this novel being used in the classroom is through its intense discussion of intersectionality (you could do an analysis of the title alone, just as I had mentioned above). When we talk about antiracist education, when we add the element of intersectionality we are able to spread an awareness to how our social location effects our perceptions and others perceptions of us. Throughout the novel (without spoiling), as a Latina, Gabi’s family holds certain expectations with her that force her to choose between being “a normal” teenage girl and one who is living up to her families expectations. I think having a discussion about how these specific moments where her family asks her to adhere to gender roles and how those gender roles may change depending on culture, would serve as an excellent introduction to intersectionality and anti-racism. For instance, Gabi has a hard time talking about her post-graduation life with her mother who holds certain expectations of her as a woman as compared to her brother. Overall, this book is definitely one I’d love to include in my curriculum one day, even if it’s finding a way to start a book club or something around it.