Merci Suarez

Merci Suarez Changes Gears
Meg Medina
Candlewick, 2018 355 pages
Grades 4-6
Realistic Fiction

Merci begins her sixth grade year as a scholarship student at an elite private school with many unpleasant changes. Her brother is driving--dangerously, relationships between boys and girls are getting complicated, the class mean girl is meaner, she is forced to do embarrassing community service as part of her scholarship, and worse of all, her beloved grandfather is mentally slipping. Merci attempts to navigate the changes with the aid of her tightly-knit extended family, who live in a small "compound" in their Florida community. Relations with the class mean girl heat-up, resulting in destruction of private property and the loss of eyebrows, finally resulting in formal intervention. Merci finds a groups of like-minded individuals by book's end and the reader knows that at least she is not going at it alone. Grandpa Lolo continues to be a worry, but finally Merci gets to the bottom of what is happening with him and has a frank talk with her family members, who have been keeping information from her. Lolo's condition will not go away, yet the reader is left with the feeling that this family will weather the storm.

Award winning teen author, Medina, turns her considerable talents to middle grade with this new title featuring a likable and realistic protagonist. Merci is not your typical heroine. She has some impulse control issues, is a bit of a late-bloomer, has an eye that likes to stray, and comes from a working class family in a relatively affluent community. What Merci has going for her is an irrepressible personality and a loving heart that helps her to navigate even the most troublesome of waters. Her family proves to make a mistake leaving Merci out of the conversation about ailing Lolo, yet they did it out of love and are honest by book's end. The unknown is often scarier than reality and kids will relate to being left out of the "adult business" that effects their lives without having a voice. Merci's problems at school will also be relate-able to young people and they are resolved in a kind, yet satisfactory manner.  This story is simple, yet moves along and is never boring. Readers will enjoy spending time with this new character and her Cuban family and in this fully-realized Florida community. By book's end Merci understands that change is sometimes necessary to make way for new developments, even if it seems scary while you are going through it.