Watercolor

WATERCOLOR, the first of the Marina A.H.’s series of the same name, is a beautiful novel about acceptance and awakening. Daniel is a queer teenage boy living in Brazil. He spends his junior year abroad in Florida, with a supportive host family whose own child is transgender. Daniel, who felt lost and isolated, blossoms among the friends he makes in school, and the acceptance he finds among his new LGBTQ friends. When he runs into his childhood best friend, whom he hasn’t seen in years, he’s faced with re-igniting the old friendship and whether or not it can grow into more. The story deals with love between friends and family, and creating found family in uplifting ways. The deeper the pain the characters endure, the kinder and more generous they are to those around them. The writing is lyrical and the characters strong and engaging. The necessity to create safe space for each other, and to accept each other where they are, rather than where they wish each other to be, is a strong, underlying theme of this beautiful coming-of-age novel.