A new graphic novel that I really enjoyed! Brownstone won a Printz Award this year, which is one of the awards given out each January by the readers of the American Library Association (a group of people all over the country who read a lot of kids books to choose the best of the best!). And rightly so!
Teer and Mar tell the story of Almudena, a 14-year-old girl living with her mom and doing the things teens do - go to school, wrestle with relationships, etc. Her mom gets the opportunity to travel with a dance team, and decides to leave Almudena with her father. The trouble is, Almudena has never met her father! She argues, but to no avail - mom drops her off at her dad's brownstone house in the Latina section of the city. Dad doesn't not speak English, and Almudena doesn't speak Spanish. In addition, Almudena thinks she is part Mexican because of her dark skin, but discovers her father is actually Guatemalan. She's not sure of the difference, but she slowly finds out. And, from the moment they meet on the sidewalk in front of his house, Almudena is put to work helping her dad renovate a really old, broken down house in the middle of the city. Did I mention they can't understand each other?
As the book progresses, Almudena slowly becomes part of the neighborhood, and of her father's life, but not without a lot of bumps along the way. The only caution I offer with this story is that there are moments of strong language - teenagers talking like they sometimes do to each other, with colorful language that adults may not often use. But I never felt the bad words were out of place, and in fact everything about this book seemed very realistic, which made it funny, sad, maddening...all of those things we all experience in real life!
A really good book, maybe not for younger readers, but most 7th and 8th graders (and above) will really enjoy this story, I think. 5 paws!
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