Key themes
- The scholarship kid at the wealthy school — and the specific exhaustion of not fitting in
- A grandfather's decline — and what a child notices before adults will say it aloud
- Family obligation as both burden and love, in a multigenerational Cuban-American household
About this book
Merci Suárez, a scholarship student at a Florida private school, navigates middle school social dynamics, a strained friendship, and her beloved grandfather's increasingly worrying memory lapses. Medina's Newbery Medal-winning novel is a warm, specific portrait of a Cuban-American family and the particular pressures of being the kid who doesn't quite fit at a wealthy school.
Published in 2018, Merci Suárez Changes Gears won the Newbery Medal in 2019. Medina has described drawing on her own Cuban-American upbringing and multigenerational household.
Discussion questions
- Merci attends a private school on scholarship and has 'sunshine duties' — community service her family can't afford to skip. How does Medina develop the specific texture of being the kid who has to work for what others are given?
- Merci's grandfather Lolo is becoming forgetful in ways the adults don't fully acknowledge to the children. How does Medina develop Merci's growing awareness — and what does the child's perspective see that adults try to manage?
- The novel is rooted in a specific Cuban-American Florida community — multigenerational, loud, loving. How does Medina render this without either idealising or exoticising it?
- Merci's friendship troubles — with Edna, with Michael — are rendered with real social precision. What does Medina capture about middle school social dynamics that feels true?
- Merci Suárez Changes Gears won the Newbery Medal. What does it offer that distinguishes it — and what does its specificity about one family's life achieve for readers from very different backgrounds?
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