Roli and Merci are scholarship students at a private school. Since their dad and Lolo are painters, some of their tuition is paid for in work they do at the school. Because Roli is so smart, he's pretty much left alone, but sixth-grader Merci is required to do some community service in school, and so she is assigned to the Sunshine Buddies Club. It's her job to be a mentor to Michael Clark, a new kid in school who has just moved to Florida from Minnesota. Naturally, Merci's nemesis, rich mean girl Edna Santos, really likes Michael and does everything she can think of to make it difficult for Merci to be a buddy to him. That isn't hard, since Merci doesn't want to be his buddy anyway. What Merci does want is to make some money for a new bike and to tryout for the school's soccer team.
Unfortunately, neither one seem to be possible for her. She has to watch the twins after school while Tia Inéz goes to work, for free, because as Merci says "When it comes to helping, the motto around here is family or bust." On top of that, her beloved Lolo has been acting oddly lately and getting very forgetful, and no one in the family will answer any of Merci's questions about it. Family policy is to always be truthful and honest with each other, with no secrets, but that is definitely not the case here and Merci is scared for Lolo, especially when she's asked by him not to mention anything that might happen when they are together - like a fall from his bike.
Medina has written what I thought was a real-true-to-life coming of age story. Merci is at a transitional age, no longer a child, but not yet a teen, yet she has a lot to grapple with in this novel. She finds middle school difficult, with more intense homework and the pressure to keep up her grades as a scholarship student, and it seems that everyone around her changed over the summer vacation, except her. Now they are interested in boys, and Merci still wants to play soccer and ride her bike.
But Merci also has a close-knit family who do what they can to support each other, even if money is tight and some things don't come easy. And it's a good thing, because they are going to need all the love and support a family can give in the future.
Merci Suárez Changes Gears is a wonderfully realistic novel about the complications of preteen life and learning to come to grips with the fact that sometimes life just isn't fair and being in middle school doesn't help.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an ARC received from the publisher, Candlewick Press
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