Review: Clap When You Land grapples with family secrets, toxic masculinity, and grief among its many themes. The book is in verse and written from alternating perspectives of Camino and Yahaira. In clear and distinct voices we are introduced to both young women who are very different but they have one thing in common: their father. 

    Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic and yearns to go to Columbia University in New York City, where her father works most of the year. She works as her curandera aunt's assistant who helps those with medical issues and can not afford hospital expenses. Camino is a well aware that her future is limited in the Dominican Republic and had high hopes that her father would sponsor her to come to the United States. 

    Yahaira Rios lives in Morningside Heights and idolizes her father. She is a chess champion, a game her father had taught her and a metaphor for how Yahaira must act in order to successfully navigate the world. She has not spoken to her father since the previous summer, when she found out he has another wife in the Dominican Republic. Camino and Yahaira do not know of each other's existence and their lives collide when their father dies in an airplane crash with hundreds of other passengers heading to the Dominican Republic. 

  Camino and Yahaira grieve the tragic death of their vibrant father, which also coming to terms with a complex and messy family, which he has kept a secret for almost twenty years. Both girls express the limitations they have when it comes to socio-economic privileges. Interestingly, both girls struggle to confront and defend themselves against toxic masculinity. Camino is stalked like a prey by a local pimp who is waiting for the desperate moment to 'save' her and sell her as a profit. Yahaira also has no control of her body when a stranger sexually molests her on a public train. Acevedo brings their fear, terror, and anger into sharp, clear prose. Though absent in the story, the half sisters' father is three dimensional and flawed but well loved. 

  Some readers have mentioned that it was hard separating Camino and Yahaira's chapters, but I had no such problem. Both girls live in very different environments and have very different upbringings. Camino's verses flows like water using many Spanish words that do not interfere with the rhythm. Yahaira's section is much more urgent with more breaks and spaces to indicate her thought and emotional processes as if she is playing a game of chess. 

  There are two poems that I loved in this book that really struck a chord with me. The first poem is about gender expectations of Yahaira's parents on how she should behave. This poem highlights the dichotomy that girls continue to struggle with today. The second poem is claiming a nationality that you feel in your soul and in your bones though the land may not claim you because you are not native to it.

 Clap When You Land is my favorite Elizabeth Acevedo book thus far. It is emotional, raw, honest, and a must read.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Words of Caution: There is some strong language, a scene of attempted sexual assault, and a scene of groping on a public train. Recommended for Grades 8 and up.

If you like this book try: Turtle Under Ice by Juleah Del Rosario, Untwine by Edwidge Danticat, Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall