A compelling story on the complicated nature of family and people that you adore. It balanced the alternative viewpoints and realities and touched on the adult reality without taking too much away from the teenage perspective.

I really enjoy Elizabeth Acevedo’s style of writing. This looks at the parallel lives of half sisters, raised in different countries (USA & Dominican Republic) and comparing the lives that they have been able to live.

It had lgbt representation & is an own voices book.

This is a must read.
From start to end, this book pulled me in with its lyrical style, interesting characters and compelling storyline.
Dealing with some hard situations, this book handled them well.
I thoroughly enjoyed every page.

I don't really know where to start with this. Heartbreaking and beautifully written, I can't recommend it enough. It hit me hard and I will be thinking about it for weeks.

This is my first Elizabeth Acevedo book and i loved it.
Clap when you land is a captivating, poignant story told through beautiful, lyrical writing that i just couldn't put down.
This dual perspective novel tells the story of two sisters, initially unaware of each others existence, as they deal with the news that their father has died. Camino and Yahaira are excellently written characters, I'm definitely going to read more from Acevedo in the future!

I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than expected and it was very different to what I was expecting. The writing style of this book was really interesting, it reads a lot like poetry which I believe is the same as this authors other books. I really love this style of writing as it is great at conveying emotions and is a beautiful way to write if done well. Even though this book had a lot of upsetting hard hitting topics, it was a super easy and quick read! I liked that we got the point of view of both sisters and saw how they both dealt with the grief of losing their dad. It was interesting to see what life was like for both girls, one in the Dominican Republic and the other in New York. they grew up very differently.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was emotional and full of grief but it was also hopeful and bittersweet. I liked both of the characters, The plot wasn't the best but it wasn't really important. It was more about family, secrets and grief and it worked really well. It had a few hard hitting topics such as loss of a parent and sexual assault, it really did make you feel for the characters.

Thank you so much for sending me this book. My review can be found as part of my May Wrap Up on my Youtube channel https://youtu.be/6rU96M3Idac

do you ever just finish a book and get this intense urge to hug yourself? that's how this book made me feel. this is such a beautiful stories about two sisters trying to understand what it means for them to have lost their father but found each other. it was raw and intense; it was important.

Camino lives for her father’s visits to the Dominican Republic. But this year, on the day his plane is supposed to land, Camino finds herself at the airport surrounded by crowds of crying people.

In New York City, Yahaira is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her hero, her father, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance and Papi’s secrets, the two sisters are forced to face a new reality where their lives have been forever altered.


Clap When You Land is a book told in dual narrative and in free verse, which I absolutely adored. I’m really enjoying verse novels at the minute and this has to be one of my favourites so far. Throughout the book you get a really clear picture of what life is truly like for both main characters. Both are struck by grief and revelations of things occurring in their lives. We see that Yahaira has always had everything that she has needed and wanted whereas Camino has to fight for everything that she needs in life.

This novel is so beautifully written right from to the start and to the very end. I kept finding myself throughout reading absolutely desperate for the girls to find one another and be together in their times of need.

This book excellently shows complicated families. Both girls feel betrayed by their father because he had two families and two different lived but kept the other life secret. Camino and Yahaira don’t know about each other before the events of this book and it is understandable to see why they feel betrayed by their own father. Whilst reading this book it is very easy as a reader to find a fault with their Papi. But as you read the sotry you find out exactly why he lived how he did and how his thoughts were always about raising both his daughters as well as he could.

This book shows sisterly relationshops beautifully and their relationshop even brought tears to my eyes. I love how this book wrote a sisterly relationshop and I’d like to see more books like this in the future. Camino and Yahaira are so wonderful and such well-rounded characters that I adored.

This is the first Elizabeth Acevedo book that I’ve read but I will certainly be reading more in the future as her writing is absolutely incredible. Elizabeth Acevedo throughout Clap When You Land highlights the difficult subjects of poverty, sexuality, race and class and she does this beautifully.

This novel is actually loosely inspired by the real-life event of American Airlines Flight 587. In 2001 Flight AA 587 was travelling to the Domican Republic much like Camino and Yahaira’s fathers flight. Flight AA 587 crashed in Queens, New York, killing two hundred and sixty people; over ninety per cent of the passengers were of Domican decent and returning home.

Overall, I highly recommend Clap When You Land to all. Elizabeth Acevedo gives a voice to a community that doesn’t have the chance for its voice to be heard often. It is a voice that needs to be heard more and this book helps that. Clap When You Land is a heart-breaking, heart-warming and absolute wonder to read and I highly recommend it to all.

Having never read a book written in verse, I had no idea what to expect from Acevedo's writing style, and I was completely blown away.

Clap When You Land follows two girls Camino and Yahaira, dealing with the aftermath of a plane crash that killed their father. The girls do not live in the same country, and don't even know each other exist until the accident.

The writing was so distinct between each character that I never felt confused about who I was following, which was something I was skeptical about going in to.

You really feel that you're in the Dominican Republic, following Camino while she's coming to terms with everything, and the Spanish that's included in the book really helped with the authentic feel of the novel.

This book was a heartbreaking story of family, and what that happens to mean to these people.

I absolutely would not hesitate to pick up another book by Elizabeth Acevedo in the future

Camino and Yahaira’s fathers both die in a plane crash. Only it’s the same person, and neither girl knows the other exists.

Clap When You Land is about two girls who live very different lives. Yahaira lives in New York City, has a girlfriend she loves and is a masterful chess player. She has also hasn't spoken to her father in a year. Camino lives in the Dominican Republic, she is an excellent swimmer and longs for the summer when she gets to see her father. Only her father doesn't arrive that summer, as his plane has crashed over the ocean. Yahaira and Camino's lives are so entwined and yet neither of them knows the other exists, until the plane crashes. It then becomes common knowledge that their father is the same person and has for many years had two wives and two families.

The story unfolds as the girls come to terms with their lives changing for ever with the death of their father and the surprise knowledge that they are sisters.

The book is told in a dual narrative and in free verse, which I adore. You get a clear picture of what life is really like for both characters. Yahaira has always had everything she wanted and Camino has had to fight for the things she needs.

This book is beautifully written from start to finish. I found myself desperate for the girls to find and console each other in their time of need. The book deals with complicated families, of which there are many in the world. The girl's feel betrayed by their father because he had two families and two lives, and as a reader, it would be easy to find fault with him. However, as you read the story, you realise why he lived the life he did and his thoughts were always with raising both daughters as well as he could. There happiness and education were always at the forefront of his mind. I honestly couldn't hate him for what he did.

What I found really fascinating about this story, is that it is loosely based on a true event. Not long after 9/11, an aeroplane crashed in Queens, New York. Ninety percent of the passengers were of Dominican descent and it rocked the community that lived in New York, but not long after if became old news. The author wanted that to be remembered and it is one of the reasons she wrote this book.

If you haven't read a book by Elizabeth Acevedo yet, I would highly recommend reading one. She gives a voice to a community that doesn't really have one and is always a joy to read.

I am delighted at this book. It's not often that dark skinned Latinx women are written so fully, so well and Elizabeth Acevedo has done a fantastic job of bringing her Dominican culture and building a fabulous & heartbreaking world for us to get lost in.

The story is about how two sisters, months apart in age and living in different countries, find out about one another when the father they share dies in a tragic plane crash, his two lives/families/selves collide and his daughters are in the middle. The crash that inspired the story is the American Airlines flight 587 and the hundreds of lives lost.

As an afrolatina myself, reading and feeling so close to a story was phenomenal. I read the story in one sitting.
Although a man is the cause of all of this and his memory features heavily throughout the story, this is a story of love, of women and how strong we are. The women in this story are tested and are not perfect but they grow and develop as the story progresses. There's so much to explore and if you're lucky enough to know the culture personally, this story will feel very familiar.

I should point out that whether you share la cultura o no - this is a rich story which is not afraid to touch on difficult emotions and complicated situations.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I loved Poet X and this new novel is no different. Acevedo is a beautiful writer and she shows that paragraphs of prose aren't necessary to really get to the heart of an issue or a character. Her prose poetry allows her characters to breathe on the page. The historical facts underlying this story were ones I didn't know and am glad I do now, but the heart of the story is really knowing who you are and where you belong, and your family accepting you. A wonderful novel.

WOW! I loved this book so much. But I didn't know how much it would actually hurt me. It's so poignant and such a lovely read. I've been looking forward to this since it was announced and i'm so glad I was given a chance to experience how brilliant this novel it. Elizabeth Acevedo hasn't put out a single bad book and keeps on getting better and better with each release IM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT SHE HAS IN STORE FOR US NEXT!

In short: Hidden Families + Secrets + Tragic Death = Clap When You Land

What I loved most about clap when you land is the dual character perspectives. It took me a moment to realise that there were two points of view but when it clicked it made a lot more sense. It focuses on two sisters who don't know each other and what happens when they discover that their father had another family in another country. It's as heartbreaking as it sounds but it's also surprisingly heartwarming a well.

This is a solid 4.5 stars!

Two teenage girls – Yahaira lives in New York, Camino lives in the Dominican Republic. Both live very different lives. Both have businessmen fathers whom they adore and whom they miss very much when they are away travelling on business. Both suddenly find their world is turned upside down, when the plane their fathers are travelling on crashes, killing all on board.

An extraordinarily powerful and heartbreaking novel. Written in dual narrative verse, the novel explores grief, love, loss and forgiveness as well as stepping from childhood into adulthood. Every word in the novel is perfectly placed, the shape and structure of the text adds an additional enhancement to the overall quality of this superb novel. It’s hard to find the words to do justice to this wonderful book – it should be placed in the hands of as many young people as possible. It is loosely inspired by the real life event of the 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 which crashed in Queens New York on its way to the Dominican Republic, killing 267 people.

An absorbing, thoughtful, thought provoking and thoroughly magnificent read from the Carnegie Medal winning author. With each new book, I think she can’t get possibly get better but each time she does.

Age Range 13+

This one will tug on your heart-strings. Elizabeth Acevedo can do no wrong - every books she has written I have read and loved, whether it is in verse or prose. She writes such vivid characters, which is the same for these two girls, Camino and Yahaira. Even the side characters were wonderfully strong women. I loved the female friendship and journey these characters go through as they come to terms with the fact their Father has lied to them and hidden each other from them. I would love for a follow up book set in New York, I am not ready to leave these characters behind!

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while will know that I have a real love for verse novels, so I was really excited to get my hands on an advance copy of Elizabeth Acevedo’s new YA novel, Clap When You Land. Like the hugely successful Poet X, it is written in verse.

"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."

It is a story of grief, love and forgiveness. Whilst I did find some moments of real beauty in this book, it’s sadly not one that I’ll be raving about. I loved the concept and I think dual narrative was an obvious choice given the storyline, but I found the voices weren’t as distinct as I would have liked. I never felt I really got to know the two young women, Camino and Yahaira, and I was often flicking back in the book to work out whose chapter I was in.

However, I’ve heard really good things about the audiobook edition so I’d definitely recommend seeking that out if you’re interested in reading Clap When You Land. If it’s dual narrated, that’ll really help with the distinction between the two characters, and I think the book’s conversational style would work really well in audio.

Thanks to my Mum for typing this up for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book follows the main characters Camino and Yahaira grieving their father following his sudden death in a plane crash, however, neither of the girls is aware of the others existence.
What I Liked:
The Writing, This book is written in verse, similar to Acevedo's first novel, which gives it an emotional and lyrical feel. I felt the writing style was accessible to anyone who wants to pick this book up and it also gave me a tangible connection to both Camino and Yahaira.
Characters. Every character in this book felt unique and well developed. This was demonstrated most clearly in the distinct voices of both the main characters. I felt I knew these characters and what their dreams and aspirations were, I also think the familial relationships were depicted with honesty, authenticity and care.
Themes. This book tackles a number of themes; grief, what family means, cultural identity, sexual harassment and the difference in upbringing of girls in different cultures. All of these were navigated with care and extreme thoughtfulness and I feel this book could be read multiple times to have a different perspective with each read.
Overall this was a well crafted look at the effects of sudden bereavement on teenagers. It was an emotional and heart wrenching read.
I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I have been excited about this book ever since I first saw it! I absolutely love prose poetry novels, and this one sounded especially fantastic. And I was not disappointed in the slightest!

CLAP WHEN YOU LAND tells the story of two half-sisters who only find out about each other when their father is killed in a tragic plane crash over the ocean. Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic, dreaming of becoming a doctor while helping her aunt caring for the local sick. Yahaira Rios lives in New York City, struggling with her connection to a country she has never even been allowed to visit. When their father's will reveals that he is to be buried in the Dominican Republic, the sisters' paths meet, and they realize that within their grief and loss, they might find something, too.

This book hits hard. Elizabeth Acevedo manages to make me cry with just one simple sentence, and I keep thinking about lines from this book days after finishing it. The language is incredible, and many of the short chapters read almost like stand-alone prose poems. So many difficult subjects are addressed in this book, and in such an incredible way. And, above all, stands the message of female strength, of women standing up for each other and keeping each other on their feet. It definitely is a book that I wished every single person would read, and I can strongly recommend you picking it up!