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As a seventh grader in New York City, Meg Medina experienced a situation similar to that of the young protagonist in her 2013 book, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass.
A fellow middle schooler confronted Medina with the warning that another girl planned to inflict a beating – and the bullying that ensued sent her into a downward spiral that lasted five years.
Her middle-school encounter with the bully is just one of the experiences she has mined in her career as a "literary activist": using fiction to help youth gain an appreciation of themselves and better understand their world – in general, to help them grow up.
But while she has focused on picture books, middle-grade books and young adult fiction as an author, she has long been an advocate for empowering and unifying people of all ages, and from all walks of life.
"[I am] a person who believes in the power of community," Medina says. "The idea is to figure out how to make connections with people. . . How to connect the county to the city. How to connect the growing Latino community to the larger community. How to connect readers from diverse backgrounds around story."
Over the years, her literature has earned a string of awards, from the Belpré Award in 2014 for Yaqui Delgado (the basis of an upcoming drama project by Hulu) to the Ezra Jack Keats New Writers Award in 2012 for Tia Isa Wants a Car.
And on Jan. 28, Medina learned that her newest book had received the highest honor in American literature for children: the Newbery Medal.
Counternarratives
When she and her husband moved to Raintree in Henrico County 21 years ago, Medina was focused on raising her three young children: Cristina, Sandra, and Alexander Menendez.
But after the youngest child went off to Pemberton Elementary, she began to write.
The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she was drawn to write stories capturing and fictionalizing her childhood experiences. As she explains on her website, her work "examines how cultures intersect, as seen through the eyes of young people," and highlights unique elements of Latino culture as well as qualities that are universal. "Her favorite protagonists are strong girls."
A former teacher (who nominated a teacher for one of the earliest Henrico Citizen Henrico’s Top Teachers issues), she likes hearing from teachers that, because children relate well to her characters, her books open up dialogue and spark conversations about otherwise inhibiting topics.
At a time when immigrants are the target of so much derogatory rhetoric, Medina says she also uses her books to provide "a counternarrative to negative stereotypes."
"There are so many negative characterizations these days of Latino families and what it is to be an immigrant," she told the Associated Press. "This toxic conversation about immigration and who's dangerous and who's American absorbs us all."
Hope Trees and banned books
Medina's activism, however, is in no way limited to her writing.
She has visited Henrico, Chesterfield and other school districts to speak at anti-bullying programs. With her friend and fellow author Gigi Amateau she has compiled lists of books for the "Girls of Summer" reading program – all portraying strong female characters who stand up for themselves and their beliefs as they persevere through challenges.
A few years ago, she helped bring an exhibit called 'Paint Me a Story' to the Richmond region, featuring the work of Latino children’s book illustrators. "I wanted to showcase that talent for kids to see," she says.
Her first young adult novel, The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, inspired a Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden exhibit of milagros – votives or charms affixed to church walls or altars in Latin America.
Constructed by students from seven high schools (selected for their high populations of Latinos or at-risk students), the milagros were made with art foil supplied by Medina, and signified the students’ hopes or dreams.
Almost 500 milagros were hung on five trees at the Garden, and the idea (named the Hope Tree Project) was shared with and adopted by many librarians.
In 2009, to mark Banned Books Week, Medina and a panel of local authors were the subject of a Citizen story as they spoke out against censorship and presented, "Why Freedom is Important to the Writing Process."
During the panel discussion, Medina reminded the audience that the writing of a book is only half the experience; the rest of the experience is brought to the book by the reader. The reader, in fact, actually becomes a character in the story.
She recounted the time an illustrator read one of her books and told her, "I really liked the quiet lesbian relationship you put into that."
Medina, who had intended no such relationship for the two characters, shook her head as she said, "You really don't know what the reader is going to bring to it!"
Not surprisingly, her community projects and advocacy have won her awards just as her books have. In 2014, she was honored as one of the CNN 10 Visionary Women in America. And in 2017, Southern Living magazine named Medina and Amateau to its Southerners of the Year list.
Next up
For the next year, Medina is likely to be traveling much of the time celebrating her Newbery winner, Merci Suárez Changes Gears. Meanwhile, she is "hard at work" on her next novel, and has a new picture book coming out in 2020.
But she is happy to report that between trips she will have some time at home -- where she can often be found walking her Raintree neighborhood with the family black Lab, Hugo. She also looks forward to her scheduled appearances at Henrico schools, coming up in the next school year.
As always, she will make time for public service projects that create those all-important community connections, bring people together over books, and advocate for under-represented groups.
One such project that does all three, and is especially near and dear to her heart, is the Next Chapter Book Club. After Medina learned about the national organization serving young adults with intellectual disabilities, she sent local librarians information that she had collected from a Loudoun County group.
"I was so delighted to see that the library’s leadership adopted the program here and put resources behind it," she says, noting that her older daughter, Cristina, attends the weekly gatherings at Tuckahoe Library whenever she can.
"I believe that it’s important to shape a community’s resources with marginalized voices in mind," she emphasizes.
"Henrico is its people – all its people."
At its Feb. 12 meeting, the Henrico Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation about the Newbery Award and Medina's work in the community.
