The Education of Margot Sanchez

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After reading The Education of Margot Sanchez, I do not think that I would use this in my future classrooms. I appreciate the idea of a coming of age story with an appropriate mixture of romance and the other themes present in the story such as finding your true individual identity and staying true to who you are. I also really appreciate the book’s Latinx culture and heritage, especially centered around the story of a Hispanic-American family. However, the book’s language is simple but simultaneously stuffed with curse words. Although I consider myself to have a more relaxed opinion of teenagers’ use of curse words at school and in my classroom, I cannot justify assigning this book. There are other books with similar cultural themes and coming of age storylines that have a more effective lexicon for high school students. I don’t necessarily think the curse words in the book by themselves are the issue, but the book has parts, even whole pages, that are boring and do not accomplish much. I cannot justify teaching a book with this type of language if it does not accomplish something extraordinary.
Instead, I would teach the book Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero. The main character is a Hispanic-American teenage girl navigating her high school years, just like Margot Sanchez. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces deals with arguably heavier themes, like her best friend getting pregnant, her good friend coming out, and her father’s drug habit. I still find the book to be more beneficial than The Education of Margot Sanchez because the content is interesting and relatable to students, there are not unnecessary cuss words, and the book is written as Gabi’s journal entries so it is a fun and easy read

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