Sal & Gabi: Break the Universe

A Pura Belpre Award winner by writer and illustrator Carlos Hernandez. This fiction book is given positive reviews by Booklist, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. The story follows Sal Vidon who can open alternate universes that he uses to deal with problems like bullies at his school Miami’s Culeco Academy of the Arts. Sal befriends and helps a girl named Gabi Real, but things take a turn when Sal almost destroys the universe. The story is full of strange things occurrences like Sal’s dead mother visiting him to the multiple dads of Gabi. The book is absurd at times but deals with serious matters that makes this book an enjoyable read. Similarly, the author wrote a sequel called Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe (2020), which received favorable reviews by school library journal Booklist and Kirkus Reviews.

Teachers can have student do a curriculum writing assignment by creating their own alternate universe using elements from their own lives.

Hernandez, C. (2019). Sal & Gabi Break the Universe. Rick Riordan Presents.