My Review of "Clap When You Land" by Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo has definitely proven she is a literary force with the first two books. The Poet X was beautiful story written about a Dominican girl, named Xiomara who wants to be a poet. In With the Fire on High a seventeen year old Puerto Rican girl named Emani who has a daughter and has the gift of cooking. In WTFOH Emani explores the possibilities of the opportunities her cooking can present to her while also raising a kid. Both of these books explore the stories of strong Afro-Latinx young women and Clap When You Land explores the story of four strong Dominican women. 

Clap When You Land is a story of sisters, one named Yahaira who lives in New York with her mother, the other named Camino who lives in Dominican Republic with her Tia Solana. They have no idea about each other and their father has died on his flight on the way to visit Camino for the summer. After it is confirmed that there are no survivors they are forced to live with the fact that their father had two families and find a way to exist together and heal.

Like The Poet X, Clap When You Land is written in verse. If reading Acevedo doesn't teach you that verse is a beautiful way to write a novel something is wrong. In this novel even the most heartbreaking, the most devastating news was beautiful. When Tia told Camino about Yahaira it was beautifully done. Every part of this book was done so beautifully that the emotions felt while reading it was powerful.

One of my favorite things about Acevedo is she she is definitely not afraid of writing queer characters and I'm glad that in this book one of the main characters is queer. Yahaira has a girlfriend named Dre who has a green thumb and kinda been her comfort through everything. Dre is a character that breaths life into the love story that is woven into the story and through Yahaira's grief she finds solace in Dre.

I feel that there is power in the resolution of this story, because the death of their father throws both of them into emotional turmoil and also takes a toll on their extended family. To see Yahaira come to terms that she has a sister, her mother reconcile with the fact that her husbands daughter needs her compassion and to see Camino get the family she always wanted even though it took her father to die to get it. The way the story ended is perfect, beautiful and simple despite the journey it took to get there.