Age:
High School
Reading Level: 3.7
Chapter 1: Ghetto Girl
Ghetto girl struggles to read
Feeds her children foods so cheap
Tirelessly, forging forward
Amidst the spray of bullets
Aiming for a sound night’s sleep
Chapter 2: Who Is This Gal?
It was a summer day when I met her in a parking lot behind our local library.
She was young, maybe 23. Not a small woman. Her face and body were big and round. She wore a black beaded T-shirt with a fierce lion on it and really tight jeans.
Her shoes sparkled! Those high heels towered above me.
Her name was Tiana. She was tall and looked Hispanic or African American. She had wild orange hair. Her looks didn’t give me any clues about her heritage.
My name was Nina. I was a tutor. We were very different looking.
"Who is this gal?" was my first thought.
Chapter 3: Same Word—Different Meanings
Tiana did not look like the people I usually see in my town. She looked sort of “ghetto.”
The dictionary says the word ghetto means a part of a city where members of a minority live together due to social, legal, or economic pressure.
To me, ghetto means falling on hard times.
People use ghetto as slang.
The word can mean different things to different people.
