Hey Guys,

My semester has started at SHSU and I am so excited. After this current Spring semester I will have 6 more hours to go and I will be finished with my second Masters program. I am currently reading A Promised Land by President Barack Obama. The book is excellent so far.

Happy Reading!!!

Textbook Reflections Chapters 1-5

 

Quintero,I.(2014). Gabi: A girl in pieces. TX. Cinco Puntos

( Required Young Adult Novel)

This story is centered around Gabi Hernandez and her very dysfunctional family. This story chronicles what happens in  her senior year of high school by telling her story through her personal journal. The books starts out on a negative note with her first journal entry being about how she was named after her maternal grandmother who did not want to see her because she was born out of wedlock.  Her grandmother  beat her daughter when she found out she was pregnant even though she was already of age. So because of  what her mother experienced ,Gabi’s mother instilled in her ” ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas” which translates into keep your eyes opens and your legs shut. The good girls are supposed to wait until they get married to have sex. I think her mother loved her son because in her eyes he could never do any wrong. I also think she loved Gabi too in a sense but she was ashamed of her because she was constantly  shaming her and comparing her to other girls. Gabi’s mother constantly badgered her about her weight , which in turn made Gabi find solace in overeating junk food. Gabi had snacks hidden all over her room , and was constantly snacking. Anytime life threw Gabi a curve ball she overindulged with all kinds of snacks and she say her self as fat.

 

August 1st was a life changing for her best friend Cindy, that was the day she found out she was pregnant.  August 7th was another drama filled day for Gabi and her friends, that was the day her boy best friend, Sebastian told his family that he was gay, and he had to  move out of his home. He thought his father was going to be loving and accepting but  the reaction was totally the opposite. The story goes on and now school has started and everyone is back into the swing of things. The school gossip, Georgina has told everyone that Cindy is pregnant and has really embellished the story to make Cindy look bad. September introduces Gabi’s father, and we find out that he is a meth addict, who disappears for days at time chasing a high. Also in this month Gabi decides to start writing her dad letters that she one day hopes to be able to give to him. This is also the month that Gabi is introduced to poetry in Ms. Abernad’s class, and her first poem is about a  Joshua Moore , a boy who has no clue he broke her heart. As the story goes on important things that happen in October are Gabi’s first kiss and her first boyfriend, but she soon finds out its not all she thought it was going to be because Eric is smothering her. Seems like things continue to go down hill, the poster child of the family gets arrested  for tagging some buildings and their mother announces she is pregnant.

Gabi sends her college applications off to all of six colleges she hopes to get accepted to. She reaches a big milestone and she turns eighteen as well as gaining another boyfriend. A tragic loss occurs in Gabi’s  family she finds her father dead in the garage of their home. The all grieve in different ways and her new baby brother will never know his father.  The  story ends with several things happening, Cindy has her baby,and Ernesto her new baby is born a month early. Georgina learned a hard lesson the same person she was always making fun of, was the same person she went to for help when she found out she was pregnant ,and with threw with her abortion.  All three of the friends experience prom, Gabi gets accepted to Berkley ,and  she loses her virginity. Lastly, Gabi gets into trouble for trying to defend Cindy but actually she ended up hurting her because she betrayed her trust. As a result, her record did not reflect bad of her so it would not mess up her college admission but she denied the right to walk with her class or even attend her graduation.

This book could  be used cross curricular, because it touches on so many topics. Gabi had to finally find her own voice and she was able to do that through poetry. She tapped into her own sexuality and how to experience boys. Her mother ingrained in her head every thing that sex was not and that it makes you a bad person, but she discovered something entirely different .  The cover of the book paints a very accurate picture of  how Gabi saw herself and the things she loved. The book to me is written in the same genre as  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  Even though they are of the opposite sex, and they use two different mediums, cartoons versus journaling  they both use that as a way to express themselves. They are both constantly reminded not to loose site of  they culture because they want to achieve more than what their present situation is. In both families, the other parties feel like they are turning their backs on them by trying to be “white”.

(Required Author List)

Keats, E. (1987). Goggles!. New York, NY: Aladdin Books.

This book is about about how Peter and Archie along with his dog manage to outwit a gang of bullies who tried to steal their goggles.. The googles are just an  old pair of motorcycle goggles that the older boys take from them, and Peter and Archie  had them first. This was a fun book. The illustrations made you feel as though you were on an adventure, running and hiding alongside Peter and Archie. The topic of bullying is prevalent throughout the text. This provides an excellent launch point for a discussion.  This was written over three decades ago and it is really sad that so many of our students are dealing with this very same topic today. Bullying has spread so much farther, cyber bullying and so much more.

(Required Author List)

Hale, S., & Hale, D. (2014). Ever After High: Once Upon a time. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

This book is a collection of story that has a children’s show based on it.  The author has turned well known heroines and made them princess in a different way ,as they all attend Ever After High. One girl in particular, Apple White is packing for a new year at Ever After High She is aided by servants, dwarfs, and woodland creatures, who manage to make the whole process run smoothly enough that Apple can spend time on the social aspect of leaving. She and her friend text a little, after which Apple goes to the balcony to receive support from her faithful subjects in regards to Legacy Day as well as leave them a few kind words to remember her by for the school year to come.Soon enough, Apple finds herself in the courtyard saying goodbye to her parents, the dwarfs, and the staff. Everyone wishes her well, reminding her of the importance of Legacy Day, and Apple happily takes the encouragement, thinking that everyone must have noticed how hard she’s already worked for her destiny. However, her departure ends on a sour note when she overhears some of the staff tying her destiny to nothing deeper than her beauty. She vows she’ll prove she is worth more than just her appearance Her destiny is she determined to be just like Snow white and she is going to kissed by a prince.