Plot Summary
Almudena has always grown up with her white mother and has never known her Guatemalan father. Her mother will be gone for the summer and she is leaving Almudena with her father for the first the time. She finds out that her father cannot speak English and that he is renovating a building to make apartments for friends and neighbors that can no longer afford the rent because their neighborhood is slowly becoming gentrified. At first she’s scared and worried because she doesn’t know how to connect with him, but very soon she realizes that even though they cannot speak the same language, he is a caring and loving father despite all the years he’s been out of her life. They renovate Brownstone (the building) together, she becomes friends with his girlfriend and the girlfriend’s queer son Beto (he comes out to her) and she finds a slew of friends throughout the neighborhood in the process. They have a quinceañera for her ( she becomes a young woman!) and a she learns much about her Guatemalan side throughout the summer she spends with her father.
Author Samuel Teer
Samuel Teer is known for writing Brownstone. He is the son of an immigrant so the experience of the main character comes from his own experience. He is a new author. (Wikipedia, 2025).
What Do I LOVE About this book:
I love the art in the graphic novel. I enjoy the queer characters and how difficult it is to come out – especially during this time period and in a Latinx family it’s plain awful. I love how Almudena learns to connect even without language because I have had those exact same experiences. I think about coming to visit my great grandparents over the summer in Puerto Rico and what that was like. I used to get coconuts, mango and oranges with them from our trees. I used to shuck beans with them from the pods for our beans and rice. Even though I could not speak much, I could still listen and I had so much fun laughing and smiling and being pinched on the cheek. I have many fond memories of my summers. This is what this book made me look back on and I love that Almudena had this experience and I hope she has many more with her new family.
Critical Evaluation For the Book:
I think that Almudena is incredibly forgiving for a 14-year-old. To not have a father in her life because he was scared and to be able to forgive him is a huge thing. She’s honestly incredible and I do not think I would have had the ability to do so if I was in her shoes. this is the one part of the story I do not feel is very realistic and if I was her I would have been much more icy and moody.
Creative Uses for A Library Program
I think having a discussion with a teenage book club about immigration and gentrification is incredibly important. What is gentrification? How does it affect communities? What is good about it? What is bad about it? How can we better protect our communities against gentrification? Should we? These are all important topics to discuss.
Speed Round Book Talk
Almudena’s mother is leaving for Europe in the Summer of 1995 and she’s about to drop Almudena off with her father that she hasn’t seen or spoken with since she was a baby. She will learn about her heritage, herself, and make all kinds of new friends in the process all while not understanding any Spanish!
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
There is some cursing and a flashback to some obvious sexual innuendo with her parents, but not much comes to mind There is a lesbian character that Almudena befriends which causes conflict amongst her family members, but then they open up to her after an accident occurs. Her father’s girlfriend’s son comes out to her as queer and it is a very sweet moment in the book as up to that point he is always angry and now as the readers we understand why. Overall this book is incredibly tame, so I do not foresee any struggles, but I think if there are any LGBTQ+ characters it will always have backlash so again I reiterate that there will be policies in place that protect the students rights to read what they want at the library.
Reason for Inclusion:
It won the Printz Award for 2025 and I personally think it’s a fabulous book to include in this collection for anyone to read. Having an understanding about immigrant lives and how gentrification affects everyone is incredibly important and I think this does that in a simple, but beautiful way. I love this story and I want everyone to read it!
Title: Brownstone
Author: Samuel Teer
Genre: Graphic novel
References:
Wikipedia.(2025). Brownstone (graphic novel).
Maggy’s Mini YA Library! 