16-year-old Raquel lives in a small town in Portugal, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Her parents are divorced, and she’s just been suspended for cursing out a school aide. She has two best friends, Luísa and Fred, but wants something more.


Then, from afar, she sees Pardalita, a senior and a gifted artist who’s moving to Lisbon to study in the fall. The two girls get to know each other while working on a play. And Raquel … falls in love.

From author/artist Joana Estrela comes Pardalita, a beautiful slice-of-life story that is This One Summer meets Ursula K. Le Guin’s Very Far Away from Anywhere Else. Told in a gorgeous blend of prose poems, Estrela captures the feeling of being 16 in a way that feels gentle, joyful, and real.