Brownstone is a coming-of-age novel featuring beautiful and warm colored art. Our main character Almudena is a mixed race 14-year-old that has never met her father, Xavior. Her primary parent has always been her white mother who never really focused on showing Almudena her Guatemalan side. She didn’t even know she had a Guatemalan side, she assumed she was Mexican. When Almudena’s mother has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour Europe with an International Dance Production, she is dropped off to spend the summer with her Spanish-speaking father, a language she never learned. Her father lives in an old brownstone that needs renovating. Almudena will spend her summer, helping him renovate while navigating the language barrier, and discovering her Latin roots through her interactions with the neighborhood. Unfortunately, it is not all sunshine and rainbows as she is faced with judgements from members of the community when she first arrives. She is often called “off-brand” and mocked for not knowing how to speak Spanish. The story explores numerous topics such as colorism, language barriers, gentrification, homophobia, gender biases on how girls should dress, dress, and act, and the general feeling of belonging.

Brownstone by Samuel Teer, with artwork by Mar Julia, is a sweet and thoughtful graphic novel about finding your place and connecting with family. The story follows Almudena, a teen who spends the summer with her Guatemalan father, Xavier, in his old, rundown brownstone. She’s never met him before and doesn't speak his rapid-fire Spanish, so adjusting is a challenge.

As Almudena works on fixing up the brownstone, she meets the residents of Xavier’s Latin American neighborhood. Some are supportive, while others don’t think she’s “brown enough” to belong. With limited time to bond with her dad, she realizes that connecting with her heritage and community isn't easy—but it's worth the effort.

The story deals with family dynamics, cultural heritage, and growing up in a thoughtful way. Almudena is relatable—stubborn, fierce, and caring—and the beautiful artwork brings the neighborhood to life. If you’re into stories about finding yourself and your roots, Brownstone is a great pick!

I loved this. Great characters, great art. I loved how the main character's idea of family and home changed throughout the story. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this graphic novel. 4/5 stars.

Set in the 90s, our main character is spending the summer with her father (who she never met until now). They have a language barrier between them, and the main character is faced with identity issues while suddenly learning she is Guatemalan (not Mexican like she assumed) and everything that comes with that -- including the identity crisis of not knowing Spanish. While she helps her father renovate a Brownstone, she becomes immersed in the community. There is LGBTQ rep as well.

I really enjoyed this. It's a quick read with beautiful art and a great story.

Immediately I adored the graphic novel style of Brownstone. The rich pops of color, realism, shading, and attention to details. Feeling stuck between cultures and parents, Brownstone encapsulates a summer of having to find our own way. Beginning with feeling left behind, Almudena has questions about her family and her heritage. About the ways she doesn't feel Guatemalan and to realize the way they treat her for not knowing her own culture mimics the ways the US treats them.

Great graphic! I am glad to have had a chance to read this delightful story!
A young adult gal must go live with a dad she has never met, and I think this story is extremely relatable!
I hope kids with mixed parentage will find solace in this book. Great representation of non-traditional family structures.
The artist does a fabulous job bringing the characters to life!

I was trying to decide whether to buy this book for our collection, and got it to look at right at the end. It is a really sweet story, beautifully illustrated, and I will definitely be purchasing it for the library.

June 1995 - Fourteen-year-old Almudena is used to mothering her dancer mom, what she’s not used to is being dumped for the summer as free labor with a Spanish-speaking dad she’s never met. Masterful and appealing artwork, diverse and subtle coloring and skillful panel variation distinguish this coming-of-age story as Almudena confronts a new community, an uncertain future and a problematic past. For a Hispanic-looking, English-speaking child of a white single mother, the dynamic relationships and cultural beliefs of the gentrifying Guatemalan and Mexican neighborhood are a steep learning curve. So too is the construction labor that slowly begins to bond father and daughter. Divided into three long chapters, replete with rich, ancillary characters, and both humor and pain, readers are privileged to watch many examples of two incongruent things pairing to create something new.

This is a lovely story of meeting your father for the first time. Our main gal has lived with her mother her entire life. She’s never met her dad, but now her mom‘s off to Europe for the summer and she has to spend the summer with a stranger. Not only is she meeting her dad for the first time there’s a language barrier as her dad is from Guatemala and speaks little English. The neighborhood he lives in speaks little English. However, these two will find common grounds and a family relationship that makes a heart sing. This book was a lovely story about birth family, found family, and making your own type of family. It’s a wonderful story for any age.

4.5 stars

While her mom goes on a trip for the summer, Almudena is sent to live with her Guatemalan father for the summer–who she has never met. However, when she arrives, she learns they’ll be living in a Brownstone he’s renovating. And he expects her to help.

As Almudena learns to navigate her new relationship with her dad (who mostly speaks Spanish), she also gets to know the residents of her new neighborhood. Everyone has their own opinions on how Almudena should dress and act according to her Guatemalan heritage. But it’s up to Almudena to decide what she wants that to look like.

Thanks to Versify and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Brownstone to review! You know I always love picking up new graphic novels, and this one definitely caught my eye. The art on the cover looked wonderful, and I knew I was hooked from just that!

I loved the way that this book explores the idea of family and culture through Almudena’s struggle to connect with her dad. During the summer, she is immersed in his Latin American community in New York. She getts to learn new things about herself through her dad and his culture. Their relationship is the core aspect of the story, and I loved how it shaped Almudena by the end.

And the side characters! There’s such a fun cast of characters here, and we get to know quite a few of them. As a reader, you feel immersed in the community along with Almudena, which is helped along with the gorgeous artwork.

Honestly, Almudena’s story wraps up nicely at the end, but I would definitely read another story about her going back to her dad’s each summer. Getting to see how she grows and the community grows. They are all such a delight to read about.

Definitely add this one to your graphic novel list for the summer!

I loved this book. There is a diverse cast of characters, each with their own story line that feels relevant and important. The protagonist is dynamic and relatable, and she tells an important story about belonging and the modern family. I highly recommend. A great addition to any classroom library.

I loved this graphic novel about a girl who spends the summer helping the father she’s never met before fix up a brownstone. Almundena’s identity crisis--stemming from having a white mom and learning that her father is Guatemalan rather than Mexican--is really beautifully and poignantly portrayed, and I love how the author demonstrates their language barrier since Almundena speaks English and Xavier speaks Spanish.

The arc of her blossoming relationship with her father as we get to know them both better and they both grow is really well done. We’re also introduced to a pretty large cast of neighborhood characters, who give the story depth and flavor. They’re all well-fleshed out, especially for a graphic novel; and I love that they have storylines with each other as well as with our main character Almundena.

The illustrations are beautiful, colorful, and dynamic!

A beautifully rendered coming-of-age story!
14-year-old Almudena is spending her summer in NY with her Guatemalan dad. However, there are a few obstacles. She has never met him, doesn't speak Spanish and he doesn't' speak English. Upon her arrival, she pitches in to help him in renovating his brownstone home and the story takes off.
It's a story of identity, finding and embracing your roots, and love. It's evident that family truly counts.
It's a heartwarming story, appealingly illustrated. So endearing!

Almudena is sent to live with her estranged father for the summer and is certain it is not going to go well. When she arrives she finds that communicating isn't easy, that the brownstone he lives in is in desperate need of renovation, and her lack of familiarity with her Latin American roots may be a barrier between her and the entire neighborhood she has been immersed in.

This story was absolutely lovely, as was the art. I cannot recommend this highly enough!

This story is set in the 1990s and the main character, Almudena is meeting her father for the first time and spending the summer with him. This book was heartfelt and a wonderful coming of age graphic novel. It has multiple cultural points of view and the main character found herself and her identity. I would highly recommend this book.

I loved this book! The story of the main character going to New York to meet and stay with a father she'd never met was a little strange. At the beginning I wondered, if the parents have as good of a relationship as it seemed, I don't understand why he wasn't in her life at least a little. (But that is eventually explained very well.)

I loved the drawing style! Especially in the first few pages where you can almost see the wind whipping through their hair in the back of the taxi. I liked the relationship between Almudena and her mother. It reinforced the fact that her mother is more of a free spirit and sort of flighty.

The relationship between Almudena and her father had the perfect amount of misunderstanding and tension mixed with obvious affection from him. She, of course, struggled with feeling comfortable and included - being that she couldn't speak any Spanish.

I enjoyed that the story all came together in the end, maybe not how Almudena originally envisioned it, but it all worked out.

A coming of age graphic novel, centering on a bi-racial girl navigating identity, language, and culture. Brownstone packs a lot of heart and soul.

I LOVED this book. The illustrations and coloring are beautiful and depict a vibrant, culturally rich Spanish NYC neighborhood in the mid 90s. I related to Almudena so much that I cried my little heart out. Definitely keep this one in your 2024 release radar!

This made me cry. A really beautifully illustrated and well thought out story about a half-Guatemalan, half-white teenager visiting her father for the first time. There are language barriers, cultural differences, and being set in the mid 90’s, difficult societal differences that affect Almudena’s summer. She is confronted with her socially white upbringing, the fact that she never learned to speak her father’s native Spanish, and the realization that she is hurt by never having known her father before. Along with a wonderful cast of characters, Almudena’s story is one of found family, investing in one’s native culture, and finding balance in the space that we occupy with others. I loved this story so much, and will definitely be looking to get a copy for our library catalog!

An amazing book! I went into this one not expecting to love it and I'm delighted to be wrong.

This book cover so many tough topics, and does so in a way that feels authentic and natural for the MCs age: complexities of Latin identities, gentrification, absent family, found family, blended family, language barriers, queer identities in the 90s and in Latin communities... I'm very impressed.

The artwork was good. I love the floorplan at the start of each chapter showing the stories building like the building itself. Very clever.

A coming-of-age graphic novel about biracial identity, language, culture, and family. Almudena meets her Guatmalan father for the first time when her white mother drops her off for the summer at a brownstone he is renovating. After a bumpy start and an unexpected language barrier, Almudena begins to connect with Xavier, the people in his neighborhood, and her Guatamalan heritage. The art style is soft, messy, vibrant, and beautiful, and the illustrations wonderfully depict the vast range of emotions felt through Almudena's journey. The narrative is heartwarming and compelling. The graphic format is perfectly suited for exploring biracial identity and language barriers; the result is beautiful and complex YA realistic fiction.