Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land is a narrative in verse, alternating in voice between two girls who do not realize they are sisters, one in NYC and the other in the DR, after a plane crash kills their father. It is beautiful, and uses wording and structure to just swallow the reader whole. I loved the frequent use of Spanish, the inclusion of a beautiful, same-sex relationship for one of the girls (which is presented not as a main dish of the plot but as a perfect side dish, the homemade macaroni and cheese of Thanksgiving - warm and inviting and exactly as it should be) and how their lives and experiences were mirrored and yet also individual. I particularly appreciated how occasionally the girls would even use the same phrases, but due to the structural presentation and the way each sister would incorporate the words, they felt entirely her own. For the bulk of the novel, Yahaira, who lives in NYC, accidentally learned what she thinks is the whole truth of her father's dual life in the year prior to his death, and copes with complicated, silent fury while also being buried in grief. Camino, in the DR, has no such knowledge, but faces her own devastation at the loss of a second parent while having the dangers he had protected her from in the barrio closing in around her in the wake of his loss. Acevedo depicts the difficult balance of maturity and naïveté that high schoolers experience, and that lead to decisions both completely understandable and wretchedly painful. The deeper details of each sister's experiences unwind slowly, so the reader's connection to the characters as well as their pull towards each other is almost magnetic. When the girls finally learn of each other, it's as if those magnets spin, pushing and yet silently, irresistibly pulling. While the ending is not a surprise, it is satisfying and leaves the reader full of anticipation. I wanted more.

CWYL is older YA, and does include a description of a form of sexual assault as well as references to issues surrounding sex trafficking. While neither is unnecessarily graphic or overlong, they really are the only things that make this novel inappropriate for middle school, so if you have a mature 8th grader, this may be OK. As an adult, it was compelling and absolutely worth the time. I will probably read it again.