Review / Merci Suarez Can’t Dance

Book: Merci Suarez Can’t Dance (2021)
Author: Meg Medina
Genre: MG, Contemporary
Sequel to: Merci Suarez Changes Gear

Basic plot: Merci Suarez and her lovable family are back! This time, Merci’s in seventh grade. And with it being February, get ready for Valentine’s Day… which means dancing. But Merci can’t dance (or doesn’t want to). She also gets stuck with this boy named Wilson. She likes him, but isn’t sure if she likes likes him. Of course, nemesis Edna’s still around making all sorts of trouble for Merci…

Opening lines from the book …
It was Miss McDaniels’s idea for me and Wilson Bellevue to work together in the Ram Depot, a job that nobody wants. For the record, I applied for an anchor spot on the morning announcements with my best friend Lena. But wouldn’t you know it? Darius Ulmer’s parents decided it was time he addressed his “shyness issues,” so he got the job instead.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK…

1) I love Merci’s big extended family. This book does tend to focus more on Tia Inez and her love of dance. And on the mystery surrounding all her errands with her sweetheart Simon. Hmmm.

2) And how great is it when Merci and Wilson get creative in their advertising ideas for the Valentine’s Day dance. I do have a soft spot for corny jokes and puns, so THAT worked for me! And it also was nice to see them work together so well!

3) I do find Edna to be quite fascinating. In this book, she seems to have lost all her friends. (Which makes sense.) She’s still not a likeable character, but there were times when I did feel sorry for her. I love how Medina keeps bringing her into the story. Not necessarily as the “bully” but as someone who might need Merci’s friendship more than Merci might need hers.

4) The part about (minor spoiler) selling the bike is fun. Especially, how Wilson becomes involved and how he gets his mom to help try to get it back only to find that a young couple came to buy it already! Oh boy!

5) I really like Miss McDaniels, aka Stopwatch. She the secretary in charge of assigning all the different community service projects. And she runs her operation like clockwork. It was nice to see her in action again for this book. 🙂

THINGS THAT BOTHERED ME…

1) Lolo’s hardly in this book! I missed him.

2) I found it a little unrealistic for the school to (Spoiler!) want Tia Inez’s dance studio to perform when they have just barely been formed as a dance school and don’t really have any students yet! I just felt that part of the plot could have been handled a little differently.

FINAL THOUGHTS

What a good sequel to Meg Medina’s first book. Like I said, it was good to have the Suarez family back in action.

 

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YOUR TURN…

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Note: I’m posting this for Greg Pattridge’s Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday…

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