Clap When You Land

I love this novel in verse because it made me think a lot about what it must be like to have a whole root system, a family, in a place, a whole country apart, that you have never or rarely visited. I concluded that sometimes it’s not about how you came to eventually make it back to that home you’ve never known, but that you went to explore it at all.

I’m fascinated by the stories of DNA secrets that unite, confuse, and complicate lives. Camino Rios and Yahaira Rios had no idea they shared the same father—until he perished in an airplane disaster. Told in verse with alternating viewpoints, this novel drew me in right away. Camino Rios had her father every summer while Yahaira had her father the rest of the year, both living very different lives—until their father’s death changed everything. Suspense builds as the two girls follow clues to the shocking realization that they are sisters. Once I started reading, I could not put the book down. 

This novel-in-verse taught me about a significant historical event—the deadly plane crash, on which this story is based around. Elizabeth Acevedo was able to elevate that news story and make me think about the way media does not center the stories that deeply and almost exclusively impact immigrants. Though this is a fictitious tale of two half-sisters living in two different countries, it is written in the most truthful way. Acevedo’s detailed writing ensured I could just as vividly imagine the scenes, scenarios, and characters set in the Dominican Republic as the ones set in New York. Acevedo is able… show more.

In a clever twist on the sibling rivalry trope, Acevedo depicts two teen half-sisters with vastly dissimilar upbringings who have only learned of each other’s existence after the tragic death of their mutual father.

The novel explores culture, race, and economic disparity using raw but elegant verse. The sisters’ progression from spiteful scheming to sibling love is beautifully organic.

This is another one that you know will make you cry: the father of the main characters dies in a plane crash. (I’m not ruining anything…it’s right on the back cover!). But two girls, one in the Dominican Republic and one in New York, are both mourning the same man, and neither knew their sister existed until now. The tragedy of their loss is layered with the tragedy of these deep buried secrets. But Elizabeth Acevedo, who writes in verse, manages to bring so much life and vibrancy and humor and heart into these girls! And ultimately there is a… show more.