Shift Life

by Meg Medina

361 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2023

About the author

Meg Medina served as the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Her most recent middle-grade novel and first fantasy, Graciela in the Abyss, was a 2026 ALSC Notable Children’s Book and a CCBC Choices 2026 selection. Illustrated by Anna and Elena Balbusso, the novel was also awarded the prestigious 2026 Hamilton King Award by the Society of Illustrators. She is also the author of the Newbery Medal–winning book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist, and is followed by two more acclaimed books about the Suárez family: Merci Suárez Can’t Dance and Merci Suárez Plays It Cool. Her young adult novels include Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award, and was published in 2023 as a graphic novel illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas; Burn Baby Burn, which was long-listed for the National Book Award; and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind. She is also the author of picture books No More Señora Mimí / No más Señora Mimí, Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away / Evelyn del Rey se muda, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, Jumpstart’s 2020 Read for the Record selection; Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, which was a Pura Belpré Author Award Honor Book; and Tía Isa Wants a Car, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award; and biographies for young readers She Persisted: Sonia Sotomayor and She Persisted: Pura Belpré, the latter with Marilisa Jiménez García. Meg Medina’s work examines how cultures intersect through the eyes of young people. She brings audiences stories that speak to both what is unique in Latino culture and qualities that are universal. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia.