Clap When You Land

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Goodreads Summary 

Mrs. P Summary: This fiction novel is based on a real incident, the crash of a flight bound from New York to the Dominican Republic in November, 2001.  

Camino Rios dreams of attending Columbia University in New York City as she waits for her father to visit her each summer in the Dominican Republic. On the day of his expected arrival, the plane crashes. 

In New York City, Yahaira Rios also learns that her Papi has been killed on a flight to the Dominican Republic. Yahaira, we learn, knows that she has a half sister in the Dominican Republic; she knew that her father kept secrets.

The sisters learn of each other and their father's failings, grieve his death and their lost lives, and then find a relationship with each other. They have to move on in this new reality and figure out a way to pursue their dreams.  The story is told in poetry/verse, alternating between each young woman's perspectives. 

Elizabeth Acevedo Talks About the Novel on YouTube

Genre:  Young Adult, Poetry/Verse

If You Like This, You Might Also Like: If You Like This, You Might Also Like: Dear Martin by Nic Stone, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo,  Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Inside Out and Back Again by Thannhha Lai