Oldest, Best Thing
an interview with Newbery medalist Meg Medina!
“Do you want to be on time for school, or do you want to read Merci Suárez?”
I’ve asked Bea this question every morning this week—and every morning she’s declined to answer (Bea mysteriously “can’t hear” when she is reading—I shouldn’t say mysteriously, because I have that problem too). We’ve only been late once, which is pretty good for us—and I don’t really mind because I know that Bea’s consuming love of books and stories will always serve her well.
Merci Suárez, in case you don’t know, is the protagonist of two excellent middle grade books by award-winning, bestselling author Meg Medina: Merci Suárez Changes Gears and Merci Suárez Can’t Dance (new this year). We have loved Meg Medina’s work since reading her picture books Tía Isa Wants a Car and Mango, Abuela and Me. Bea has fallen for the focus on family and character in these books, and for the warm humor that suffuses Medina’s writing. “They’re just really, really good books,” Bea told me in the car this morning. “The characters aren’t perfect, and their lives aren’t perfect, but they improvise. That’s like real life.”
I also love that the books are so beautifully written, and that they teach Bea things—about “all kinds of gente,” as our friend Michael says, and also about real-life challenges, like new schools, tricky friendships, and even how families navigate Alzheimer’s disease.
We knew that Meg Medina would have great answers to our Oldest, Best Thing challenge—and she did! Read on:
Name: Meg Medina
Oldest, Best Thing: a teacher’s lapel pin from Cuba
Where did you get it? I found it in my mother’s things after her death in 2013. She had kept it with her important papers inside an old hardshell suitcase.
How old is it? It’s from the late 1950s.
Why do you like it? It reminds me that my mother had dreams and aspirations as a young woman. When she arrived in the U.S., she took a job as a factory worker. She didn’t speak English well, and she had two little girls to take care of. But back in Cuba, my mom had been a teacher. Over the years she talked about teaching often, and she seemed proud of the fact that she had earned her degree. Her teaching days were among the happier parts of her life.
How do you take care of it? I keep it in a little velvet jewelry box with the other treasures I found that belonged to my mother and my aunts.
Do you think it could be replaced with something new? Why or why not? We still see pins like this… For example the Junior Library Guild sends authors these lovely gold pins when their books are selected for the Junior Library Guild list. (I have a few of those pins.) But my mother’s pin is different. It’s from an old era of Cuba, one that just doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a tiny piece of my family history that seems unimportant in the big world, but it was something that helped sustain my mother’s spirit and sense of herself in this new country. For that, it’s precious.
Thank you so much for sharing this story and photo of your beautiful mother, Meg! We love the idea of objects that sustain the spirit.
Frog Troublers, you should check out Meg’s books, and ask your school librarian to carry them—and their versions en Español, too (next on our list: She Persisted, a chapter book biography about Sonia Sotomayor). I’m hoping that Bea will do more novel studies in second grade, and Meg’s books will be great for that. For older readers, click here for her acclaimed YA fiction, and follow her on Instagram at @megmedinabooks for recommendations of authors she loves, upcoming events, and even “one-minute writing tips.”
How about you? Are you a Meg Medina fan, or fan-to-be? And what has been sustaining your spirit and sense of self lately?
absolutely fabulous FTT!
now that’s a graduation picture!
As always!❤️