Max Rodriguez (née Maxine) could read before they could talk, devouring comics, novels, and books on philosophy. This helps them later to navigate the topsy-turvy life as a 9th grader in Nowheresville, California. Max's adventures include encounters with their spirited abuelita (aka Tatabuela), who drives a Hulk-green muscle car and grows marijuana in her attic; an estranged, self-styled John-Wayne-strutting Irish American grandpa, Logan; a fair-weather papá named Carlos; Mamá, a fiercely independent, bilingual elementary school teacher; and a taciturn older brother, Che, about to head to college. Others in Max's orbit include a compassionate tío, Jorge, who fears the loss of loved ones to a rising AIDS epidemic, activist prima, Lara, as well as wild and zany best friends, Rudy and Miguel. Tears, laughter, courage, and unyielding love shape Max's journey of self-discovery.

Frederick Luis Aldama was born in Mexico City to a Guatemalan- and Irish-American mother from LA and a Mexican father from Mexico City. When he was a child, his mother moved the family to California. Today he is known as Professor Latinx and is an award-winning author and editor of over 50 books, including recently the comic book Pyroclast, the graphic fictions Through Fences and Labyrinths Borne, and children's books The Adventures of Chupacabra Charlie and Con Papá / With Papá. He is a National Cartoonists Society, Texas Institute of Letters and Ohio State University's ODI Hall of Fame inductee. He is founder and director of the UT Austin's Latinx Pop Lab where he holds the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities.