Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. An important part of Merci’s maturation process is accepting that things change.

• How does the story show maturation in Merci’s attitude toward change? (topic sentence)
• Give two examples from the beginning or middle of the story that show Merci’s early attitude about change.
• Give two examples from near the end of the story that show how her attitude has matured.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how Merci’s attitude toward change relates to the novel’s thematic concern with Coming of Age as a Tween.

2. Medina uses foreshadowing to give the reader clues about things that will happen later in the text.

• How does Medina foreshadow the car accident? (topic sentence)
• Give three examples of hints from earlier in the narrative that show that Roli does a lot of driving for the family, even though Roli’s driving is not very reliable.