Gabi, a Girl in Pieces

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

July 24-September 29

Reading Check

1. Which event do Gabi and Cindy attend before going to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test?

2. Why does Gabi not like dresses?

3. What physical attribute of Gabi do people often question in relation to her ethnicity?

4. What reputation does Gabi’s high school have?

5. What is the rumor surrounding Tia Bertha?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who is Gabi named after? Why does she find this fact ironic?

2. Describe Sebastian’s dilemma with his parents. How do his parents react?

3. Why does Gabi believe she has a “lightswitch relationship” with her mother?

4. Describe Gabi’s relationship with her father. What addiction does he struggle with?

5. Compare and contrast Gabi and Sandra.

6. What does Gabi learn about her father that she shares in her diary entry for September 23? How does she react to learning this?

October 3-November 16

Reading Check

1. According to Gabi, what is every mom’s concern?

2. What poet does Gabi love?

3. Why is Beto arrested?

4. What surprising news does Gabi’s mother share with the family?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the circumstances surrounding Gabi’s first kiss. How does the situation end?

2. What announcement does Gabi’s father make? How does the family respond?

3. Summarize Gabi’s poem that she shares with her class. How do her peers and the teacher respond?

Paired Resource

“Lady Lazarus“

• Sylvia Plath’s 1960 poem uses a biblical allusion to comment on gender.
• How is Gabi inspired by Plath’s poem?

November 17-January 14/15

Reading Check

1. According to Gabi, when did her father become “so much worse”?

2. What are the two ways that holidays can go at Gabi’s house?

3. What literary term does Gabi use in Lines 1-4 and 6-8 of her poem “ERIC THE HEART BREAKER”?

4. What does Sebastian not want the trio “to be ashamed [of] anymore”? (December 26)

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What activity do Sebastian and Pedro invite Gabi to do? Summarize what she decides and what the outcome of the situation is.

2. Why does Gabi think Ms. Abernard is “the coolest teacher?”

3. What do Gabi and Beto see at the mall? How does Gabi feel about the situation?

4. Describe Gabi’s evening with Martin. How does she feel in his company?

5. Describe the January evening at The Grind Effect.

Paired Resources

“Howl“

• This Allen Ginsberg poem is an example of the beat poetry movement of the 1950s.
• This content relates to the theme of Happiness Comes From Being Comfortable With Yourself.
• Which stanzas of Ginsberg’s poem does Gabi find profound? Why?

“[anyone lived in a pretty how town]“

• E. E. Cummings’s 1940 poem explores anonymity and the passage of time in a small community.
• Which of Cummings’s themes does Gabi connect with?

January 17-Gabi’s Zine: “The Female Body”

Reading Check

1. Who offers to tutor Gabi in Algebra II?

2. Why does Gabi slap Georgina?

3. What does Martin suggest he and Gabi start doing together to improve her mood?

4. What is Gabi’s “patriotic duty”?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Summarize the events of Gabi’s entries in early February. What do they center on?

2. Describe how Beto processes his grieving. What does he do one night? How does Gabi’s mother respond?

3. What does Georgina ask Gabi’s help with? How does Gabi respond?

4. Which university is Gabi accepted into? How does her family respond?

5. Summarize Gabi’s Zine. What content does she write about? What style does she write her Zine in?

Paired Resource

“We Real Cool“

• Gwendolyn Brooks’s 1959 poem discusses how teenagers focus on acting cool.
• This content relates to the theme of Addiction Destroys Individuals and Families.
• How does Brooks’s message influence Gabi’s perspective of what it means to be cool?

April 8-June 12

Reading Check

1. What did Gabi want her Zine to make people think of?

2. What fact is Tia Bertha struggling with?

3. Why is Martin upset with Gabi?

4. What item is Gabi embarrassed to purchase?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Ian ask Gabi to come over to his house? What does she learn about him? What is the outcome of the visit?

2. What secret does Cindy reveal to Gabi and Sebastian? How does Gabi respond?

3. What are the circumstances of Gabi losing her virginity? How does her inner circle respond?

4. What is the altercation between Gabi and German? What ramifications does this situation have on her future?

Paired Resources

“Tonight I Can Write“

• Pablo Neruda’s 1924 poem focuses on lost love.
• This content relates to the theme of People Experience Sex Differently.
• Why does Gabi prefer Neruda’s poem to other love poetry?

“Project Princess“

• Tracie Morris’s 1998 spoken-word poem centers on a girl living in the projects.
• This content relates to the theme of Happiness Comes From Being Comfortable With Yourself.
• How does Morris’s poem shape Gabi’s perspective of herself?

“Still I Rise“

• Maya Angelou’s 1978 second-person-narrated poem addresses the idea of overcoming adversity.
• This content relates to the theme of Happiness Comes From Being Comfortable With Yourself.
• How does Angelou address the idea of overcoming adversity? How is the poem’s speaker similar to and different from Gabi?

Recommended Next Reads 

My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero  

• Quintero’s 2019 children’s book explores the bond between a father and his daughter within the context of their community.
• Shared themes include Happiness Comes From Being Comfortable With Yourself.
• Shared topics include father-daughter relationships and immigrant communities.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

• Sanchez’s 2017 bildungsroman novel centers on a young Mexican American girl growing up in Chicago.
• Shared themes include Happiness Comes From Being Comfortable With Yourself and People Experience Sex Differently.
• Shared style and topics include bildungsroman genre, diary entry format, Mexican American young female adult protagonist, mother-daughter relationship, and cultural and societal expectations.
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter on SuperSummary