Kids' Author Meg Medina Inspires Readers

WD chats with the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.

- DON VAUGHAN

Meg Medina grew up in a Cuban-American household dominated by strong women, notably her mother and aunts. She was a self-described "wild child" who loved to run and play, but was equally drawn to the quiet pleasures of reading.

"Story is what attracted me," Medina recalls. "My mother and aunts told a lot of stories because it was an oral tradition in my house. But it translated easily to a thirst for the tale."

That thirst has led Medina to a remarkable 16-year career writing for young people. Over the course of 14 publications that include picture books, novels, and easy-read biographies of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and author Pura Belpré, she has left an indelible mark as the understanding voice of the Latino childhood experience.

Medina received the 2019 John Newbery Medal for Merci Suárez Changes Gears, about a strongwilled sixth-grader facing challenges and change, and currently is visiting schools and libraries around the country as the 2023-2024 National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, sponsored by the Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader.

Growing up in culturally diverse Queens, N.Y., in the 1970s, Medina was encouraged to read by her mother and found herself drawn to strong female characters like Nancy Drew. "I liked the mystery element, but what I really loved about Nancy Drew was the feminist element," she explains. "Nancy had her own car, and no adult doubted she could solve a crime or take down a criminal. That felt very freeing." But while Medina enjoyed such tales, she was disappointed to find that the majority of the books in her school library were "solidly white middle-class, a problem that has endured over the decades."

THE POWER OF A TEACHER'S WORDS