merci suarez changes gears by meg medina

With grandfather Lolo around, Merci always feels loved, safe, and secure, though she notices that he is becoming forgetful. Merci’s grandparents, Lolo and Abuela, live in the last house in Las Casitas.

Merci’s aunt, Tía Inés, occupies another house in Las Casitas with her twin sons, Tomas and Axel. She lives in Florida in a three-house row affectionately referred to as “Las Casitas,” or “little houses.” Merci lives with her mother Ana, her father Enrique, and her older brother Roli. To learn more about Meg Medina and her activities as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, please visit her Library of Congress resource guide.Eleven-year-old Merci Suárez is the child of Cuban immigrants. The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature raises national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. Meg Medina is the author of the Newbery Medal-winning book “Merci Suárez Changes Gears,” which was followed by two more acclaimed books about the Suárez family: “Merci Suárez Can’t Dance” and “Merci Suárez Plays It Cool.” Her young adult novels include “Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass,” which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award and will be published in 2023 as a graphic novel illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas “Burn Baby Burn,” which was long-listed for the National Book Award and “The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind.” She is also the author of picture books “Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away,” illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, Jumpstart’s 2020 Read for the Record selection “Mango, Abuela, and Me,” illustrated by Angela Dominguez and “Tía Isa Wants a Car,” illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award and the biography for young readers “She Persisted: Sonia Sotomayor.” The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia. The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is an initiative of the Library of Congress, in partnership with Every Child a Reader External link, with generous support from The Library of Congress James Madison Council, The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation and Dollar General Literacy Foundation External link. Meg Medina, the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is the eighth writer to hold this position.

Meg Medina, 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

Merci suarez changes gears by meg medina