BROWNSTONE

Fourteen-year-old Almudena reconnects with her estranged Guatemalan father during a revelatory summer.

When her white mom gets the opportunity to tour as the star of an international dance show, Almudena must spend the summer in the city with Xavier, the father she’s never met. Further exacerbating her woes, Almudena doesn’t speak Spanish, and Xavier speaks very little English. Xavier nonetheless expects her to help him renovate a dilapidated brownstone and turn it into housing for folks in the community who need an affordable rental. As father and daughter rehabilitate the house, floor by floor (cue Almudena: “Ugh. That all sounds like a metaphor, doesn’t it?”), she learns more about her father, including his beliefs, challenges, and life. Navigating the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood as an outsider, Almudena meets Latine people who inadvertently or purposefully question her Latine status. Almudena slowly discovers how she fits into her new community and pieces together a makeshift familia that’s imperfect but feels right. This coming-of-age tale chimes with discreet moments of humor and lots of heart, all centered around questions of heritage, identity, compassion, and acceptance and exemplified by the scrappy, vivid artwork, which wonderfully captures Almudena’s inner turmoil. Almudena’s blossoming relationship with her father ends on a cheerful note, and her moments of rapport with her summertime neighbors and their stories are frequent highlights that touch upon topics such as prejudice against brown folks and queerness in the Latine community.

Beautifully profound.