by Meg Medina
Merci Suarez starts 6th grade with big hopes of joining the soccer team and having a great year. But things don’t go as planned, and she must navigate unsettling family health issues and friends who are suddenly more interested in boys than in sports.
This story felt so real to me, even though I come from a different background. I loved Merci and her family, and by the end, I’d laughed and cried with them. It’s a fantastic book to help with those awkward times when everything is changing and you feel like you’re the only one left.