Graphic novel author Samuel Teer (Veda: Assembly Required) and comics illustrator Mar Julia (Julia & Paco) create a touching and truthful graphic novel about a girl discovering her ethnic background while staying in a Latin American city neighborhood in 1995.
Fourteen-year-old Almudena is forced to spend the summer with her estranged Guatemalan father while her white mother travels Europe "as the star of an international touring dance production." Before her mother even drives away, her father, Xavier, happily whisks Almudena into his home--a brownstone he expects her to help him renovate. Xavier, who speaks primarily Spanish, is thrilled to spend time with his daughter and to introduce her to the important people in his life. However, Almudena--who was raised entirely outside the culture--struggles to learn Spanish, understand her Guatemalan heritage, and bond with her father.
Teer's dialogue is quick, witty, and emotive as it depicts the emotional dynamic between Almudena and her father. Almudena grapples with the Spanish language--"I'm a step behind every joke, every story. It's exhausting"--and Teer includes drama and comedy as the girl finds a way to build relationships with characters like Idola, her father's love interest, and Beto, Idola's son. Julia's digital illustrations are full of motion and activity, and capture both the essence of the '90s and a city summer. The illustrator's uniform, sturdy panels mirror the walls of the brownstone, visually reflecting Teer's story about building the self and community through work, dedication, and sincerity. --Kharissa Kenner, children's librarian, Bank Street School of Education