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.