100 pages • 3 hours read
Merci Suárez Changes Gears
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018
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Introduction
Merci Suárez Changes Gears
- Genre: Fiction; middle-grade realistic
- Originally Published: 2018
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 700L; grades 4-8
- Structure/Length: 38 chapters; approx. 368 pages; approx. 7 hours on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: Growing up in Florida with her close Cuban American family, 11-year-old Merci has full days between school, soccer, and the student ambassador program. As she deals with drama at school, she faces the life-changing effects of her grandfather’s progressing Alzheimer’s disease.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Alzheimer’s; racism; relational aggression; class bias
Meg Medina, Author
- Bio: Born 1963 in the United States; first-generation Cuban American; earned BA from Queen’s College; worked in editing, journalism, and teaching; won Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for Tia Isa Wants a Car (2011); won Pura Belpré Award for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (2014) and Mango, Abuela, and Me (2016); named 2023-2024 National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature
- Other Works: Milagros: Girls from Away (2008); Burn Baby Burn (2017); Evelyn del Rey Is Moving Away (2020)
- Awards: Newbery Medal (2019)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
- Class Differences in America
- The Anguish and Complexity of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Coming of Age as a Tween
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:
- Explore background information on coming-of-age stories and class bias to increase their engagement with and understanding of Mercy Suárez Changes Gears.
