Class snob, rival, know it all, you name it, Edna Santos is always putting Merci in her place, while all Merci wants is to succeed in school and play football. Her crush is a movie star not a boy in her class, and she would rather play soccer and paint houses with her father than put on makeup and gossip with her classmates. In sixth grade, Merci hasn’t necessary hit that change yet, making this book appropriate for upper elementary students. Merci is the middle grandchild, compared to her genius brother Roli, a high school senior, and asked to babysit her twin cousins Tomás and Axel so her Tia Inéz can work at a bakery. While Merci, short for Mercedes, is Cuban American, there are many elements to this story that any reader can relate to. As she starts middle school as a scholarship students at upscale Seaward Pines Academy, Merci Suarez wishes that her family wasn’t the multigenerational living arrangement that makes her stand out from her wealthier and often snobbier classmates. They live in three row houses named Las Casitas where every door is always open, yet privacy is at a premium. Lolo and Abuela were one of the first waves of Cubans who immigrated to south Florida and now they are the heads of a family that includes two children and four grandchildren. Her protagonist Merci Suarez is how Suarez saw herself at the center of one these families, surrounded by grandparents and cousins from both sides of the families. Meg Medina notes that she wrote this book as an ode to multi-generational Latinx families who live in proximity to each other and face challenges that might not be evident in their Caucasian neighbors. I took this as a sign that I wouldn’t overlook this book anymore.
Now the youngest is in middle school but I have been teaching in my sharing of upper elementary classrooms, and three Merci Suarez books line most classroom bookshelves. When the book first came out five years ago my three daughters were in late elementary school and the perfect age for this book, but somehow it got overlooked. Every time I go to the library I see this vibrant cover staring at me. I haven’t checked off many award winners in the last few years, as my time has become limited and hence so has my reading.
I put more emphasis on the awards themselves than my taste in books, which can be eclectic but does not encompass everything.
Going into every year I say I’m going to win the Pulitzer winners, national book award winners, Newberry winners, etc.
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