Martinez-Neal hoped to evoke the feel of a photo album, in keeping with the book's theme of family.

[2] Her agent, Stefanie Von Borstel, pitched the book, with sample illustrations, to a variety of publishers, with seven being selected for an auction.

[1] When the book opens Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela feels that her name is too long.

[5] They created, in the words of The Horn Book Magazine reviewer Megan Dowd Lambert, "a soft texture".

[6][7] This includes Alma making eye contact with her ancestors as she imagines the stories her father is telling her.

It received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, which called the book "a winner"[7] and School Library Journal, where reviewer Daryl Grabarek summarized the book as, "a beautifully illustrated, tender story to be shared with all children.

"[8] In a positive review, Julia Smith writing in Booklist praised the illustrations, "Martinez-Neal brings her gentle story to life through beautiful graphite- and colored-pencil artwork set against cream-colored backgrounds.

"[9] The book received a Caldecott Honor in 2019 for its illustrations, with the committee writing how "Martinez-Neal uses smudgy graphite and colored pencil to convey a soft palette that gently transports readers into Alma’s rich ancestral past.