Merci Suárez and her brother Roli are heading off to school in
Florida. Life will be very different this year. Seaward
Pines Academy is rather expensive. Can they handle being
scholarship students? MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS appeals to
the newcomer in all of us, because we've all lived that
first day in a new place over and over through our lives.
Sixth grade is challenging enough without Edna Santos
deciding everything for the class. Merci describes her
middle school in the present tense, carrying us along to get
school photos. When I was in school, nobody told us the
school made lots of money out of those photos. Merci knows.
And these days everyone takes phone photos! She also has
some tasks to complete, like community service to make up
for their free tuition (this includes painting school walls
with her Papi during the vacations).
Merci and Roli find a police cruiser in front of the house
where their Abuela, grandmother, lives with Grandfather
Lolo. Seems he has been acting forgetful lately, and had to
be brought home by the helpful officers. Lolo was always on
the kids' side. Mami is a physical therapist and can't be
around all day, and she is determined that her two kids are
going to have a good education. Roli is into science
projects, but Merci is sporty, and she's not pleased to be
assigned more service time as a buddy to someone brand new,
Michael Clark. She barely knows her way around and now she
has to shepherd some guy she's never met instead of going
to sports tryouts.
Meg Medina artfully draws us into the world of the quite
normal kids, showing us how the Ednas of life try to set
standards and pour scorn even with silence. I think being
successful is the best revenge. Beloved grandparents start
to show their age. That's life. Merci suddenly has to worry
about Lolo's diabetes, falling off bikes and getting mixed
up, so she is taking on added responsibility. The more I
saw of this resourceful, kind young lady, the more I liked
her. From the start in September to the cheerful cries
of 'Feliz Navidad' at the end, I had fun meeting Merci's
multigenerational family. MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS to
cope with a climb, and by the end, we know there are more
hills to face in her future. But that's okay, because she's
pretty sure she can cycle to the top. Young people
everywhere will enjoy this book and learn a lot.
Thoughtful, strong-willed sixth-grader Merci Suarez navigates difficult changes with friends, family, and everyone in between in a resonant new novel from Meg Medina. Merci Suarez knew that sixth grade would be different, but she had no idea just how different. For starters, Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. So when bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be Merci’s school-assigned Sunshine Buddy, Merci becomes the target of Edna’s jealousy. Things aren't going well at home, either: Merci’s grandfather and most trusted ally, Lolo, has been acting strangely lately — forgetting important things, falling from his bike, and getting angry over nothing. No one in her family will tell Merci what's going on, so she’s left to her own worries, while also feeling all on her own at school. In a coming-of-age tale full of humor and wisdom, award-winning author Meg Medina gets to the heart of the confusion and constant change that defines middle school — and the steadfast connection that defines family.
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