Flora la Fresca & the Art of Friendship

From an NYT bestselling author comes the first in an illustrated middle grade series about a Panamanian American girl who uses humor and a little mischief to navigate her best friend moving away and her sister's overbearing and all-consuming quince preparations.
Flora Violeta LeFevre, aka Flora "la Fresca" (so called because she tells it like it is, occasionally to her parents' chagrin) can always count on her best friend Clara Ocampo Londra to turn anything-from a day at the skate park to dreaded Saturday Spanish school ­into an exciting adventure. But amidst Flora's personal nightmare that is her sister Maylin's never-ending dress try-ons and dance practices for her upcoming quinceañera, news breaks that Clara's moving, and Flora doesn't know how she'll survive without her. The girls quickly roll up their sleeves and use their larger-than-life imaginations to make the most of each passing day together. But things get complicated when Clara moves and starts making new friends, an unlikely alliance blossoms between Flora and a new student, and preparations for Maylin's quince take a disastrous (but hilarious) turn.

Veronica Chambers is the editor for Narrative Projects at The New York Times. She is a prolific author, best known for the New York Times bestseller Finish the Fight!, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir Mama's Girl and picture book biographies Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb and Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa. Born in Panama and raised in Brooklyn, she writes often about her Afro-Latina heritage. She speaks, reads, and writes Spanish, but she is truly fluent in Spanglish.
Sujean Rim is the author and illustrator of the beloved Birdie series, Zoogie Boogie Fever!, Chee-Kee: A Panda in Bearland, and more. She has worked as an illustrator for clients including Tiffany & Co., Target, and the website DailyCandy. Sujean lives in New York with her favorite artist and husband Bob, and their son, Charlie.