Merci Suarez Plays it Cool is the third book in this series. In this book, Merci is starting eighth grade. She struggles with very normal middle school problems, namely feeling pulled between two friend groups. 

This story also includes a beautiful extended family living together. Lolo is a dear grandparent to Merci and he is experiencing Alzheimer’s. The author does a great job writing about how this impacts the family and how it impacts Merci. I think this will be wonderful for many middle grades readers. 

Overall this story is a slice of middle school and family life. I loved the normalization of being kind to all of your peers and standing up for yourself. I think this series is a great fit for middle grades readers