1. Title: Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina, 978-0-7636-9049-6, Candlewick Press,
2018, $16.99, 355 pg.
2. Genre: Children’s fiction novel.
3. Characters: The main character is Merci Suárez. She’s a sixth-grader who has a big, tight-knit
family. She lives at a house, or rather, three connected houses, they call Las Casitas, where at on
the end, her Mami, Papi, and brother Roli live with her. In the middle lives her grandparents--
Abuela and Lolo. And on the very end is her Tía and her two young twin cousins, Tomás and
Axel, that she just calls “the twins”. Throughout the story, she learns about how life changes and
how to accept those changes, from struggling to adjust to sixth-grade, to family issues. By the
end, she has learned a very big life lesson.
4. Plot: Merci has just started sixth-grade at Seaward Pines Academy. It's her second year here, and
she has to maintain good grades and a clean record to stay at this private school, as her dad does
free paint jobs for the school in exchange for tuition. On the second day, Merci is selected to be in
the Sunshine Buddies, a group of kids that pair up with new students to welcome them into the
school. Merci gets picked on as she gets paired up with a boy, Michael Clark. Edna, a girl who
seems to have it all, picks on Merci the most. While everything is gearing up at school, there are
some hints that Lolo may not be doing very good. He has some moments of confusion, such as
wandering off during a paint job, and when Merci finds him on the beach he doesn’t recognize
her and seems irritable. He also refused to go to grandparents day for Merci’s class, and instead
paced the porch and shook his fist at Abuela. Merci begged everyone to tell her what was going
on, and why her grandpa was acting so strange, but her family told her to stop asking questions.
Frustrated at home, things at school get even more intense. Merci decided to play baseball
without permission with Michael, and he ended up getting pegged in the face by a softball, which
she got in trouble for. To top it off, Edna started to show interest in Michael and got mad at Merci
for spending time with him. For the class Halloween project, Merci offered to have her Abuela
make Michael’s mask. It took her Abuela forever to make, and when Merci left it in her teacher’s
classroom, Edna destroyed it. More mishaps, such as Merci accidentally cutting off Edna’s
eyebrows after trying to pull the plaster off for their mummy project, got Merci in even more
trouble. However, the school caught Edna through the security cameras destroying Michael’s
mask. Then, when Merci was on her way home in the car with Roli, after not being invited to
Edna’s party, they spotted Lolo in the middle of traffic. In a panic to get over there, they got in a
bad car crash. After this, Merci’s family finally explained to her that Lolo has Alzheimer's, and
has had it for a few years. She is angry with them, but eventually, after finding friends through
her Great Tomb project in class, she begins to accept the changes happening, even (somewhat)
making up with Edna.
5. Touchy areas: There’s really nothing besides the mention of Alzheimer's that's touchy.
6. Related titles: What’s Happening to Grandma? By Maria Shriver.
7. Music: “I Can’t Handle Change” by Roar; Poem: “New Horizons” by Carina.
8. Evaluation: I think this book would be perfect for grades 5-8. This is something that
would do well taught as a class read. The story goes through things a lot of kids struggle
with, but it also doesn’t make everyone else in the story the bad guy. Merci still feels
sorry for Edna sometimes, and I think thats really important. I’d give this a 10/10.
Review by Camry Kreymer
2018, $16.99, 355 pg.
2. Genre: Children’s fiction novel.
3. Characters: The main character is Merci Suárez. She’s a sixth-grader who has a big, tight-knit
family. She lives at a house, or rather, three connected houses, they call Las Casitas, where at on
the end, her Mami, Papi, and brother Roli live with her. In the middle lives her grandparents--
Abuela and Lolo. And on the very end is her Tía and her two young twin cousins, Tomás and
Axel, that she just calls “the twins”. Throughout the story, she learns about how life changes and
how to accept those changes, from struggling to adjust to sixth-grade, to family issues. By the
end, she has learned a very big life lesson.
4. Plot: Merci has just started sixth-grade at Seaward Pines Academy. It's her second year here, and
she has to maintain good grades and a clean record to stay at this private school, as her dad does
free paint jobs for the school in exchange for tuition. On the second day, Merci is selected to be in
the Sunshine Buddies, a group of kids that pair up with new students to welcome them into the
school. Merci gets picked on as she gets paired up with a boy, Michael Clark. Edna, a girl who
seems to have it all, picks on Merci the most. While everything is gearing up at school, there are
some hints that Lolo may not be doing very good. He has some moments of confusion, such as
wandering off during a paint job, and when Merci finds him on the beach he doesn’t recognize
her and seems irritable. He also refused to go to grandparents day for Merci’s class, and instead
paced the porch and shook his fist at Abuela. Merci begged everyone to tell her what was going
on, and why her grandpa was acting so strange, but her family told her to stop asking questions.
Frustrated at home, things at school get even more intense. Merci decided to play baseball
without permission with Michael, and he ended up getting pegged in the face by a softball, which
she got in trouble for. To top it off, Edna started to show interest in Michael and got mad at Merci
for spending time with him. For the class Halloween project, Merci offered to have her Abuela
make Michael’s mask. It took her Abuela forever to make, and when Merci left it in her teacher’s
classroom, Edna destroyed it. More mishaps, such as Merci accidentally cutting off Edna’s
eyebrows after trying to pull the plaster off for their mummy project, got Merci in even more
trouble. However, the school caught Edna through the security cameras destroying Michael’s
mask. Then, when Merci was on her way home in the car with Roli, after not being invited to
Edna’s party, they spotted Lolo in the middle of traffic. In a panic to get over there, they got in a
bad car crash. After this, Merci’s family finally explained to her that Lolo has Alzheimer's, and
has had it for a few years. She is angry with them, but eventually, after finding friends through
her Great Tomb project in class, she begins to accept the changes happening, even (somewhat)
making up with Edna.
5. Touchy areas: There’s really nothing besides the mention of Alzheimer's that's touchy.
6. Related titles: What’s Happening to Grandma? By Maria Shriver.
7. Music: “I Can’t Handle Change” by Roar; Poem: “New Horizons” by Carina.
8. Evaluation: I think this book would be perfect for grades 5-8. This is something that
would do well taught as a class read. The story goes through things a lot of kids struggle
with, but it also doesn’t make everyone else in the story the bad guy. Merci still feels
sorry for Edna sometimes, and I think thats really important. I’d give this a 10/10.
Review by Camry Kreymer