kellyz628's review
5.0
Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
Note: My professional goal for this year is to read 50+ diverse books. As I attempt to read and review these books, I will be answering the following questions for each book:
Brief plot summary
Merci is a sixth grader in her second year at a private school. Merci and her brother are scholarship students and do not have as much money as the other students. Not only does she have challenges at school, her grandfather is also starting to act different at home. Merci is just a kid trying to figure out her place in the world.
How is the book diverse?
Merci’s family is Hispanic and live in an intergenerational family.
Opinion & reason for rating
I gave this book five stars. Merci’s point of view is both unique but also completely relatable to any sixth grade girl. It is an easy middle grade novel to read and the story flows well. The secondary characters are very involved in the story especially Merci’s grandfather who is getting forgetful and acting differently. Family is a strong theme throughout the book.
How does the book impact me as a person and as a teacher? Why does this book matter?
This book impacts me as a teacher because it helps to remind me that students come to school with home on their minds. Families are made up of many different types - Merci’s family just happens to be intergenerational. Some of my students may be able to connect with Merci in this way or in other ways like her love of soccer. She is a strong female protagonist who is very likeable and the reader is rooting for her to have a good sixth grade year. This book matters because so many protagonists are white and it is refreshing to read about a Hispanic family with a strong sense of culture and family. Every year only a small percentage of books that are published have a non-white protagonist. More students need to be able to see themselves in books so they can fall more deeply in love with books.
I would recommend this book to...
Sixth graders who are just starting middle school and can connect to Merci’s story. I will be recommending this book to my students!
Note: My professional goal for this year is to read 50+ diverse books. As I attempt to read and review these books, I will be answering the following questions for each book:
Brief plot summary
Merci is a sixth grader in her second year at a private school. Merci and her brother are scholarship students and do not have as much money as the other students. Not only does she have challenges at school, her grandfather is also starting to act different at home. Merci is just a kid trying to figure out her place in the world.
How is the book diverse?
Merci’s family is Hispanic and live in an intergenerational family.
Opinion & reason for rating
I gave this book five stars. Merci’s point of view is both unique but also completely relatable to any sixth grade girl. It is an easy middle grade novel to read and the story flows well. The secondary characters are very involved in the story especially Merci’s grandfather who is getting forgetful and acting differently. Family is a strong theme throughout the book.
How does the book impact me as a person and as a teacher? Why does this book matter?
This book impacts me as a teacher because it helps to remind me that students come to school with home on their minds. Families are made up of many different types - Merci’s family just happens to be intergenerational. Some of my students may be able to connect with Merci in this way or in other ways like her love of soccer. She is a strong female protagonist who is very likeable and the reader is rooting for her to have a good sixth grade year. This book matters because so many protagonists are white and it is refreshing to read about a Hispanic family with a strong sense of culture and family. Every year only a small percentage of books that are published have a non-white protagonist. More students need to be able to see themselves in books so they can fall more deeply in love with books.
I would recommend this book to...
Sixth graders who are just starting middle school and can connect to Merci’s story. I will be recommending this book to my students!
readingthroughtheages's review
5.0
So much love for this book. I think a lot of middle grade readers will want to be friends with Merci.
thebrunettebookjunkie's review
5.0
I've been reading this book with my kids for the last several months and it's such a great story. Medina does a great job of dealing with changes that older children/young teens face in school and in their relationships with others. It also gave my kids a look into other cultures. My own grandmother has Alzheimer's and unfortunately my kids experienced first hand the ugliness that can come with that disease. The care in which Medina shows Alzheimers and its affect not only on the patient but their families and caregivers was beautiful. I broke down reading to my kids a few times and saw the empathy reflected on their faces with Merci and her relationship with her grandfather. We lost my grandfather last year so all in all we all three resonated immensely with Merci Suarez Changes Gears.
daisycakesco's review
5.0
Merci Suarez is having trouble fitting in at her private school. Edna Santos keeps picking on her and as a reluctant member of the Sunshine Buddies she has to help a new boy settle in to the school. She's also feeling out of control at home, where her grandfather has started acting strangely. In this engaging and real story of family and friends, Merci navigates change and challenges with determination and heart.
ljrinaldi's review
4.0
There is something about middle school books and mean girls that just go together. And this book is no exception. But Merci is more than just another protagonist, fighting the good fight against the mean girls of the world. She is also a Cuban-American, who is living with her extended family in Florida, with her beloved grandparents, aunt, and twin cousins.
I love how tight she is with her family, that she cares about them. That she wants to do right by them, despite not liking watching the twins all the time. She is proud of her grandmother who can sew anything, and often does. She loves her father's painting company, and is not ashamed of him for doing manual labor, while all her classmates' parents are doctors and lawyers and business executives.
Merci is a down to earth girl, and you feel her problems and she is very real.
And although there are Spanish words sprinkled throughout, they are always used in context, so you can usually figure out what she is talking about.
And excellent read, and a good for inclusion, for children to see themselves in Merci.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
I love how tight she is with her family, that she cares about them. That she wants to do right by them, despite not liking watching the twins all the time. She is proud of her grandmother who can sew anything, and often does. She loves her father's painting company, and is not ashamed of him for doing manual labor, while all her classmates' parents are doctors and lawyers and business executives.
Merci is a down to earth girl, and you feel her problems and she is very real.
And although there are Spanish words sprinkled throughout, they are always used in context, so you can usually figure out what she is talking about.
And excellent read, and a good for inclusion, for children to see themselves in Merci.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
almendrita's review
5.0
I wish 11 year old me felt as seen as I did reading this now. No book has made ever made me cry (yet), but my eyes did get watery with this one!
Gracias, Meg Medina.
Gracias, Meg Medina.
herlifewithbooks's review
4.0
This is the first Newbery winner I’ve read in a timely manner since 2016! Aaaaaand that one was a picture book.
Very traditional realism with an every-middle-school-girl kind of narrator; at the same time, very rooted in Merci’s particular setting and culture. I enjoyed it, but grown-up-reader-me I found the middle a bit slow...
Very traditional realism with an every-middle-school-girl kind of narrator; at the same time, very rooted in Merci’s particular setting and culture. I enjoyed it, but grown-up-reader-me I found the middle a bit slow...
sngick's review
5.0
This one definitely grew on me. I wasn’t in love with the characters from the beginning and wondered how the story would progress. By halfway through I was hooked and teared up many times.