The morning of January 28, 2019 was one of excitement and anticipation. Every year, the American Library Association holds their annual Midwinter Conference, and on the Monday of that conference every year, a slew of awards are announced, including two of the most well-recognized: The Newbery Award for writing, and the Caldecott Award for illustration.
This year’s Newbery Award went to Meg Medina’s Merci Suarez Changes Gears, a funny, passionate, heart-tugging story about a sixth grader who is struggling to determine who she is, even as her closest ally, the person who knows her best, endures struggles of his own.
Having been lucky enough to hear Meg speak several times, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to ask her a few questions of my own in the days following her Newbery win:
First, congratulations on your Newbery win! I read Merci Suárez Changes Gears when it released last fall and have been sharing it with my students since then. I’m so happy to see the spotlight shined on Merci (though I’m not sure Merci herself would enjoy it!)
Thank you!
This is not your first American Library Association Award. You won the Pura Belpré Award in 2014 for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, and the Pura Belpré Honor in 2016 for Mango, Abuela and Me. Can you take us back to the morning of January 28th?
It was almost 10 am, so I was sure that anyone who was going to be recognized had already been reached either the night before or very early that morning. So, after I came back from my exercise class, I showered and planned to walk the dog, watch the awards webcast, and then get back to writing my next book. But the phone rang, and I picked up and everything started to spin. It was Ellen Riordan, who chaired the Newbery committee. I don’t really remember much except the feeling of adrenaline at the word Newbery and then sliding down to sit on my bathroom floor to have a long cry. After, there was a whole hour before the webcast would start, so I bundled up and walked my dog Hugo around the neighborhood. I used the quiet to try to stop trembling and to gather myself for what I knew was coming. It was a strange and comforting silence.
Your stories feature strong, Latina characters, and Merci is no exception. But she’s also dealing with some big life challenges both at home, and at school, that cause her a lot of heartache. For readers who have not yet met Merci, what would you most like them to know about her?
I’d want them to know that she’s plucky and funny. She says and thinks the things that a smart, good-hearted and flawed kid would say, whether to a teacher who’s too strict or to a pain-in-the-neck group partner, or to a kid who’s foolish enough to think he can beat her at sports. She’s the kind of friend I would have wanted.
Another common theme in your stories is the importance of family. Merci is growing up surrounded by family who loves her dearly and embarrass her (intentionally or unintentionally) on a regular basis. Anybody who has heard you speak, or follows your website, knows that family is also important to you. How much of Merci’s experience is a reflection of your own?
In some way, all of my books are reflections of my life, but none is completely autobiographical. Like Merci, I belonged to a large, interfering family when I was growing up, complete with a worry-wart grandmother. As a grown woman, I had the experience of having my mother with our family during the last year of her life. My mom’s end-of-life process was difficult for all of us, but especially for my kids who were all in high school at the time. I drew from those hard days to shape the story of illness and change as realistically as I could.
Without giving too much away, one of the challenges Merci is facing at home is that her grandfather, Lolo, her ally amidst the rest of her crazy family, is changing. What made you decide to tackle this tough topic for middle grade readers?
Well, change is the one constant in life, whether you’re 11 or 80. We will continue to change in ways that can be wonderful or awful. The bigger picture is that middle schoolers are not spared life’s sadder moments. Happy and silly moments sit side-by-side with crushing incidents involving friends or family. I wrote about Lolo’s decline because the people we love and count on sometimes change in ways that we can’t fix. I wrote it for the Suárez clan in particular because I wanted to draw a big, loving, Latino family pulling together to face challenges.
I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to share Merci with readers in my classroom, many of whom come from bilingual, multi-generational homes, just like Merci. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of readers finding themselves in the books they read?
I love that you’re using the book in this way. Thank you for that.
I think we need powerful counternarratives to stereotypes about Latino immigrants in this country. I think it’s vital for all kids, but most especially Latino kids, to see fuller examples of Latino people. Working people. Moms. Dads. High achievers. Families that have to budget and plan their resources. Families that are multilingual. Families that are a support system.
I also think that it’s important for kids from marginalized communities to see the possibility of a career in the literary arts for themselves. Books open our hearts and minds through the characters’ journey, but also sometimes by their mere existence. Has the reader ever considered being a librarian, teacher, or professor of literature? Do they want to be authors or illustrators? Do they want to be editors, marketing people? By having a book written by a Latina, we offer a way not only to feel seen but also a way to envision wider possibilities for themselves, possibilities that they may not have considered.
And finally, what is ahead for you in 2019?
I’m not really sure what to expect, to be honest. I think I’ll be speaking lots of places and meeting readers who might not have known my work before Merci. I’m looking forward to that. I don’t have a new book in 2019, but I do have a picture book slated for 2020. It’s called Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away. And, of course, I’m still trying to sit back down the way I had planned to do on the morning of January 28 to work on a new novel…
I’m looking forward to meeting Evelyn Del Rey. In the meantime, I think I’ll revisit Merci, and introduce her to a few more readers who haven’t yet had the privilege of being her friend.
The Newbery Award-winning middle grade novel Merci Suarez Changes Gears is on B&N bookshelves now!
The post An Interview with 2019 Newbery Medal Winner Meg Medina, Author of <i>Merci Suarez Changes Gears</i> appeared first on The B&N Kids Blog.