Clap When You Land

by Elizabeth Acevedo (Autore)

Paperback, 2020

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Publication

Hot Key Books (2020), 432 pages

Description

Poetry. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: An Odyssey Honor Audiobook In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives. Don't miss the audiobook, read by Elizabeth Acevedo, the beloved author and narrator of The Poet X, winner of an Odyssey Honor and an AudioFile Earphones Award winner. Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance�??and Papi's secrets�??the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member gbill
Heartfelt YA fiction from Elizabeth Acevedo, written in verse. The story is about how the two daughters of a man who died in a plane crash come to know about each other, because, you see, he’s kept two separate families, one in New York and the other in the Dominican Republic. On top of
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processing their devastating grief, conflicting emotions arise, all of which felt authentically told by Acevedo. The daughter in the DR dreams of going to America and becoming a doctor, but has limited resources, as well as the threat of a neighborhood creepoid trying to hook her into life as a prostitute. The daughter in America plays chess and has a supportive girlfriend who loves gardening, but had known of her father’s duplicity a year before he was killed, resulting in their estrangement. They are destined to meet, but it’s not clear how close they will become.

I found the verse form effective, allowing for a punctuation of feelings from the two girls as they go through this life-changing event while coming of age. It’s an easy read but the mix of feelings churned up are anything but simple. And while the characters are far removed from me personally, there is a universality about losing a parent, and these words hit hard:

“For the rest of my life I will sit & imagine
what my father would say in any given moment.

& I will make him up:
his words, his advice, our memories.”

Here’s another excerpt on death; I’ve resolved to carry a special coin with me:
“In history we learned
the Greeks made sure to die

with a coin in their pocket
to ensure their spirit could pay

for their way to the other side;
remembering this, I give Papi

the only kind of safe passage I have to offer…”
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LibraryThing member forsanolim
Camino Rios's father lives in the US but sends money back to her and her aunt in the Dominican Republic and visits for three months every summer; Yahaira Rios's father lives with her family in New York City for nine months every year and leaves for three months in the summer. When their father's
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flight goes down while he is traveling back to the Dominican Republic one summer, the two half-sisters learn of their father's two families and have to learn to deal with each other's existence.

I don't read much YA, but I thought that this book was really well done. The story was compelling, and the book was well-written. I would definitely recommend the audiobook, which I listened to--the narrators (one of whom was the author) were great, and it worked well since this is a novel in verse.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
Just absolutely wonderful. Told from the rotating POV of two teenage girls, this novel explores what makes a person part of your family. When a plane crashes, two girls are left grieving for the father they lost. Aspiring doctor Camino, whose circumstances in the Dominican Republic limit her
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options, and Yahaira, a brilliant chess player in New York City. Both are equally fascinating, a tricky thing to accomplish when you bounce the narrative between characters. The family secret that ties the two together will change their worlds. The story is based on the real plane crash that killed 260 people in Nov. 2001. After reading both this and With the Fire on High, I will read anything Acevedo writes.
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LibraryThing member ewyatt
Two girls are reeling when their father dies when a plane from New York city crashes into the ocean en route to the Dominican Republic. Both girls are harboring secrets and dreams. Their families have big secrets two - their father was the same person and the girls had gone their whole lives
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without knowing about each other's existence.
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LibraryThing member Iudita
The author takes on a lot in this book. Too much maybe, but she pulls it off really well. She has created genuine characters who are dealing with difficult and complicated emotions and she weaves it together with such craft. It is quite impressive, especially considering she is writing in verse and
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using such a basic style. She manages to convey a lot of meaning and emotion into very few words. I listened to this on audio and it was one of the rare times that the audio didn't enhance the story for me. Not that it wasn't well done, it was just a style issue that didn't work for me and I think I may have enjoyed it even more if I had read it myself.
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LibraryThing member Beth.Clarke
A literary gem! Acevedo writes another novel in verse much like The Poet X, yet a very different plot. There are two protagonists in this story about love, family, and grief. There's also a bit of terror and how we get one another through difficult times. There are secrets. There is an underlining
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LGBTQ storyline. There's a bit of something for everyone. I loved The Poet X, but I even love Clap When You Land more. I couldn't put it down.
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LibraryThing member jnwelch
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo is a return to the free verse form she used in her first YA title, Poet X, which ran away with the National Book Award and a Carnegie Medal. With the Fire on High, in traditional novel form, was another success, and still shows up on YA bestseller lists. Clap
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When You Land is very good, and doing well, but for me it came in a bit below the first two.

Camino Rios lives with her aunt in the Dominican Republic, and looks forward every year to her father's return from NYC, where he makes money for the family. When he dies in a plane crash, she learns he had a second family in NYC, and she has a sister, Yahaira Rios.

The story is inspired by the 2001 crash of a plane headed to the DR that "rocked {the author's} community" and saw "secrets come out." The feeling out of the sisters' new relationship and the stark differences, but interconnectedness, between the two communities is well-handled. Fans of this author's work will want to pick this one up and devour it.
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LibraryThing member SoubhiKiewiet
I have come to love this author so much!

I listened to this entire audiobook in one day. I cried so many different kinds of tears. The two main characters had my heart from the very beginning right through the end. So wonderful.
LibraryThing member streamsong
Carmino lives in the Dominican Republic with her Tia; her mother has passed away. It’s a hard life, but due to Carmino’s father, Papi, spending most of the year working in New York, their life is more secure than others in their neighborhood. They have enough to eat, Carmino can go to school,
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and they have internet, an unusual luxury for the area. Papi even pays off one of the neighborhood pimps to keep him away from his daughter.

Carmino dreams of becoming a healer like her beloved Tia. She plans to go medical school in the US one day.

The highlight of Carmino’s year is when her beloved Papi returns and stays an entire month.

Her excitement builds as she skips school to meet him at the airport.

But this time the plane doesn’t land. All aboard are lost at sea.

Reeling from this blow, there is another blow to come. Papi has another family in New York with another biological daughter almost exactly Carmino’s age.

It’s a turning point. Is there another way to go forward without the bitterness and lies that have marked the past? Or will old jealousies and resentment be too much to overcome?

Since I first read [The Poet X], Elizabeth Acevedo has become one of my favorite YA authors. In [Clap When You Land] she returns to the novel in verse that I enjoyed so much. I’m already looking forward to her next book!
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LibraryThing member mrstreme
It's been a long time since I have read a book written exclusively in verse. The prose was beautiful. Acevedo has a talent for dropping you right into the setting, whether it was Camino's house in the Dominican Republic or Yahaira's apartment in New York.

My heart broke when they learned about their
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father's death. I grew angry when Camino was stalked by a neighborhood pimp. I rooted for Yahaira when she boarded that plane. When an author can make you feel for the characters, you've stumbled upon an amazing storyteller.

"Clap When You Land" is a YA book, but it's one adults of any age will love and learn from. I look forward to reading more books from Elizabeth Acevado.
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LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
Grief. Betrayal. An unexpected gift. Elizabeth Acevedo deftly braids these competing stories into a beautiful, complex novel-in-verse with two equally dynamic protagonists. This book is a must-read.
LibraryThing member janismack
What interested me about this book was that it was written entirely in verse. This is a young adult story of a man who dies in an airplane crash and everyone discovers he lead a double life with two wives and two daughters. The story is narrated by the two daughters who learn about each other.
LibraryThing member Sheila1957
Told in verse form, it tells the story of two girls--one American, one Dominican Republican--who lose their fathers on the same day. Secrets are revealed. Some know the secrets; some only are finding out the secrets. The girls must decide what to do with the secrets.

I wasn't sure what I felt about
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the story until the end. I liked how it went back and forth between the girls then switched to both of their sides. It was interesting how they ended up helping each other. Until the last quarter of the book, I was not happy with the book. I don't like all these secrets being kept. When the secrets finally are acknowledged by all then I enjoyed the story. I liked the ending. It was what I hoped it would be.
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LibraryThing member jmoncton
Two teenage girl have their lives disrupted when a plane flight from NYC to the Domincan Republic crashes -- no survivors. The girls live a world apart, Camino in the DR and Yahaira in NYC. As the tragedy unfolds they discover a family secret -- the father they each lost is the same man, a man who
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had two separate families. This emotional story is told in a 'novel-in-verse' format, giving it a rhythm and a beat that emphasizes the pain and beauty of this story. Beautifully written with an astounding audiobook performance by the author. Short, but very very powerful.
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LibraryThing member bell7
Two girls, two countries, one grief. Camino lives in the Dominican Republic with her Tia, and her father comes from the states every summer to visit her. This year, though, he dies in a terrible plane crash, leaving her orphaned and hurting. In New York, Yahaira too has lost a father in the same
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crash, and knows a secret about him that she can't bear to admit to her Mami.

In this novel in verse, the two girls' stories intertwine, switching back and forth between perspectives. As in her first novel, The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo deftly writes characters who you as the reader care deeply about with an economy and precision of language that's a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member NeedMoreShelves
Wow, this was so good. It was a fantastic audiobook experience - both narrators (one the author!) had such a marvelous grasp of their character & the wonderful poetry of the story. I loved the relationships between the MCs and their friends/adults/each other. Truly a fantastic story.
LibraryThing member mousegrl
The book is really beautifully written. I mostly struggled with how the book would jump back and forth between the two characters. I really struggled with trying to remember details of their lives or mix up who was who.
LibraryThing member fromthecomfychair
I wanted to clap when I finished this novel in verse! The story took me in immediately, particularly the descriptions of life in the barrio in the Dominican Republic. The voices of the two daughters, Camino and Yahaira, who have been raised apart and ignorant of each other, in two very different
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worlds, are distinct.

The chapter headings, that switch from one girl's name to the other, bolding first one name, and graying out the other, with the plane always pointing to the speaker, were a clever device to keep straight who was speaking.

The father has died in a plane traveling to the Dominican Republic, where he spends every summer with his second family. Each girl responds to the gut punch in her own way.

Camino, though, lives with harsh realities, which after her father's death, will threaten to end all of her hopes. Although I read the book in less than a day, and it dragged a bit towards the middle, once I passed the middle I couldn't stop reading. I'm very glad I finished it.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I listened to this audiobook which had two narrators in order to voice the two main characters. This is a novel in verse so it particularly suits itself to being read aloud.

This novel explores what happens following a plane crash and the writer has said she was inspired to write the book because of
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the real plane crash of Flight AA587 from New York to Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2001. In the novel a father dies in the plane crash while on his way to visit his daughter Camino who lives in the DR with her aunt. Unbeknownst to Camino her father (Papi) has another daughter, Yahaira, in New York. Yahaira's mother did know about Camino but had never disclosed this information to her daughter although Yahaira had discovered a marriage certificate between Papi and this other woman. This had caused Yahaira to withdraw from her father and even made her stop playing chess at which game she was well on her way to becoming a master. Then the airline whose plane had crashed offered Yahaira and her mother a substantial payment. Papi's brother contacts Tia Solana to tell her about the settlement which Camino could also lay claim to. The money would help with their economic situation because Papi had provided money to support them and with his death that source of income was gone. So Tia Solana tells Camino about Papi's New York family and although this is a shock to Camino she finds Yahaira's FB page and sends her a friend request. Camino's profile picture is of her and her father so when Yahaira sees this picture she is also shocked. Soon though they connect over social media and Yahaira decides she must go to the DR for her father's funeral and meet this sister. The title comes from the flight that Yahaira takes to Puero Plata because returning Dominicans clap when the plane sets down on their homeland.

This book was written for a YA audience and to me (far from Y) seemed a little unbelievable. The half-sisters got over any resentment towards each other very quickly and Yahaira's mother's acceptance of their relationship seemed rather too good to be true. Nevertheless, it was an interesting listen and I would recommend this audiobook.
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LibraryThing member EllenH
Although I really, really liked the story, the character development, verse and settings, I found myself wishing I could hear their voices...the way they would say their names, hear their language...I thought the whole book being set into a verse kind of format would be tiring but I found it added
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to the setting and got very used to it.
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LibraryThing member Castlelass
Camino is a seventeen-year-old girl living in the Dominican Republic with her aunt. Yahaira is a seventeen-year-old girl living in New York City with her mother. Their lives are initially separate but become tied together by a family secret and a tragedy. It is based on the (real) crash of American
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Airlines Flight 587. It is a novel of sudden loss, grief, mourning, and ultimately, acceptance. The author’s choice to tell this story via poetry helps mitigate some of the more difficult and disturbing subject matter. It is written in a young adult style. It is a creative journey through the stages of grief. I cannot say I “enjoyed” it, but I appreciated the idea and the execution. The ending is particularly well-done and, for me, the best part of the book.
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LibraryThing member clp412
4.5 stars! The message in this book is so important, and I absolutely loved hearing both perspectives. This YA book will be a connection for some students that were born in another country and/or have family in another country. The way the girls navigated through various cultures was well done. I
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loved how the book was written in verse and so poetically.
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LibraryThing member quondame
Half sisters a couple of months apart in age, one in NY one in the Domincan Republic, lose their common father in an air crash and learn about each other. We follow grief and disillusionment, fear and anger, and love while they come to grips with a different future than each expected. In verse.
LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
Acevedo writes amazing characters, and this story, while possible if not probable, is no exception.
LibraryThing member rgruberexcel
RGG: Another amazing novel in verse. Set in the Dominican Republic and NYC. The story of immigration versus remaining in the home country is a fascinating contrast. Strong positive lesbian relationship. Reading Interest: 13-YA.

Awards

Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2021)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Honor — Fiction — 2020)
Kirkus Prize (Finalist — Young Readers' Literature — 2020)
Audie Award (Finalist — Young Adult — 2021)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2022)
Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award (Nominee — Teen — 2021)
Gateway Readers Award (Nominee — 2023)
Nevada Young Readers' Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2022)
Thumbs Up! Award (Top Ten — 2021)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2023)
Arkansas Teen Book Award (Honor Book — 2022)
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (Finalist — Winner — 2021)
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2022)
UKLA Book Award (Shortlist — 2021)
Milwaukee County Teen Book Award (Honor Book — 2021)
Odyssey Award (Honor — 2021)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2022)
Iowa High School Book Award (Nominee — 2023)
Rhode Island Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2022)
Three Stars Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2021)
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — 2021)
Rhode Island Latino Books Award (Winner — High School — 2021)
Yellowhammer Book Awards (Honor Book — 2021)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Young Adult — 2020)
Penn GSE's Best Books for Young Readers (Selection — Young Adult — 2020)
Idaho Battle of the Books (High School — 2024)
Project LIT Book Selection (Young Adult — 2021)

Language

Original publication date

2020-05-05

Physical description

432 p.; 7.8 inches

ISBN

1471409120 / 9781471409127

Barcode

6703

Other editions

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