Merci Suarez Changes Gears, Meg Medina
Merci Suarez Changes Gears, Meg Medina
List: $35.99 | Sale: $25.20
Club: $17.99

Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Author: Meg Medina

Narrator: Frankie Corzo

Unabridged: 6 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 09/11/2018


Synopsis

Winner of the 2019 Newbery MedalThoughtful, 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.

About Meg Medina

Meg Medina was named one of the CNN 10 Visionary Women in America and received the Pura Belpré Author Award for her young adult novel Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. She is also the author of the novels Burn Baby Burn and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind and the picture books Mango, Abuela, and Me and Tía Isa Wants a Car, for which she received an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. Meg Medina lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her family.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Hannah on March 02, 2019

This book is heartwarming and bittersweet with a sugar-dusting of humor. Medina captures all the awkwardness and unexpected changes of life in the sixth grade, and she pairs that with a convincing portrayal of Merci Suárez's beloved grandfather succumbing to Alzheimer's disease. Lots of important is......more

Goodreads review by Heather Adores Books on November 12, 2023

4⭐ Genre ~ middle grade Series ~ Merci Suarez #1 Others in the series ~ Merci Suárez Can't Dance #2, Merci Suárez Plays It Cool #3 Publication date ~ September 11, 2018 Page Count ~ 366 Audio length ~ 7 hours 9 minutes Narrator ~ Frankie Corzo POV ~ single 1st Just a quick review because I accidentally comm......more

Goodreads review by Michael on February 01, 2020

This is a beautiful story about a girl, Mercedes "Merci" Suárez, in Fort Myers, Florida who is going into 6th grade. Her family all live together in three connected houses that they call Las Casitas. Merci is in private school and has to help her relatives paint the school to pay her way. She has th......more

Goodreads review by Phil on February 17, 2019

This is really two books. The first book is the story of a sixth grader whose feelings are mildly bruised because the popular girls don't pay enough attention to her. This is a familiar formula. While Medina executes it with more grace than, say, R.J. Palacio, the thing that she misses is stakes. The......more

Goodreads review by Julie on October 01, 2018

Sixth grade is a tough year for every child. As a scholarship student at an expensive academy, it's even tougher for Merci Suarez. Not only does she have to learn to endure middle school where she doesn't always feel she fits in with her classmates, but she also has to start growing up and facing ch......more