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A Heartwarming Coming-of-Age Tale of Self-Discovery and Found Family?a Printz Award Winner
by Samuel Teer
An exciting teen coming-of-age epic from author Samuel Teer and debut graphic novel artist Mar Julia, Brownstone is a vivid, sweeping, ultimately hopeful story about navigating your heritage even when you feel like you don't quite fit in.
Almudena has always wondered about the dad she never met.
Now, with her white mother headed on a once-in-a-lifetime trip without her, she's left alone with her Guatemalan father for an entire summer. Xavier seems happy to see her, but he expects her to live in (and help fix up) his old, broken-down brownstone. And all along, she must navigate the language barrier of his rapid-fire Spanish—which she doesn't speak.
As Almudena tries to adjust to this new reality, she gets to know the residents of Xavier's Latin American neighborhood. Each member of the community has their own joys and heartbreaks as well as their own strong opinions on how this young Latina should talk, dress, and behave. Some can't understand why she doesn't know where she comes from. Others think she's "not brown enough" to fit in.
But time is running out for Almudena and Xavier to get to know each other, and the key to their connection may ultimately lie in bringing all these different elements together. Fixing a broken building is one thing, but turning these stubborn individuals into a found family might take more than this one summer.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/21/2026)
I read Brownstone by Samuel Teer last week and really enjoyed it. As a Spanish teacher, I really liked how they showed two cultures with respect and intrigue. It deserved the Michael...
-Anthony_Conty
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/14/2026)
As I make my trek through the award winners mentioned on BookBrowse, I am reading the graphic novel Brownstone by Samuel Teer, which won last year's Michael Printz Award. It is very YA, but a sweet, touching story about a blended family. Last week, I finished Broken County a...
-Anthony_Conty
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/7/2026)
I am reading the YA Graphic Novel, Brownstone by Samuel Teer. It is a pretty nice story so far. I finished Broken Country yesterday and it floored me. It seems to have polarized people on here but it was two bi...
-Anthony_Conty
Michael Printz Award, 2025
"A revelatory summer. 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. Beautifully profound." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Via Almudena's unfettered perspective, Teer interrogates characters' preconceived notions surrounding one another's ethnicity and sexuality. Fluid illustrations by Julia, saturated in rich earth tones, expressively distinguish each character's personality and breathe life into the vibrant metropolitan neighborhood. This energetic and emotionally grounded story hits the mark. A satisfyingly transformative tale." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Neat, descriptive illustrations are full of bright and vivid colors. [The] panels show the community uniting to support one another. The story brings to life the experiences and people of an urban Latinx neighborhood." —Booklist
"Superb. Easy-to-follow dialogue and beautiful, captivating illustrations. A great YA graphic novel for teens who are trying to figure out who they are or anyone who has ever felt like they were on the outside." —School Library Journal
This information about Brownstone was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Samuel Teer is the author of the Printz Award winner Brownstone and Veda: Assembly Required. Raised outside of St. Louis, Missouri, he lives in Aurora, Colorado.
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