Clap When You Land

 Acevedo, E. (2020) Clap when you land. NY: HarperCollins.

This story starts a little slow but then it hooks you and becomes hard to put down. The novel-in-verse story of Camino and Yahaira, two girls, half sisters who learn of the other’s existence after the death of their father in a plane crash. He was on his way to spend the summer with Camino as he did every year. It is a little hard to follow at first but then it is easier to follow whose story you are reading. Along the way, Acevedo peppers in real stories for those who are from or have family in the Dominican Republic. The grief of the girls and the family and friends around them in the months after the plane crash is heartbreakingly real. The people closest to them try to comfort them but the burden of the loss only seems to lessen once they have each other to lean on. Upon finishing I was ready for a sequel to tell me what happens next as the two girls learn to live together and go on with life.

You may also like: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo or The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

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