Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Merci Suárez starts sixth grade at a private school in Florida where she has never quite belonged. She and her older brother Roli attend on scholarships, and both do extra community service to pay for their place. Their classmates have big houses and boats, and the Suárez family has neither.

The year gets harder when Edna Santos, a bossy classmate, decides Merci is a rival for the attention of a new boy. Merci becomes Edna's target, and school turns into something she has to get through day by day.

Home offers less comfort than it used to. Her grandfather Lolo, the person closest to her, has begun forgetting things, losing his temper and falling off his bike. Nobody in the family will explain to Merci what is happening to him.

The novel follows Merci through this school year as she works out for herself what is going on, with little help from the adults around her. It is a middle-grade story with a young narrator's view of friendship, family and growing up, and it is the first book in the Merci Suárez trilogy.