Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Winner of the Young Adult award



Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

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.

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.

Anyone else reading this in December? Already read it?

I just finished it, and Wow! I really loved it. I had no expectations, this isn’t a genre I read much of, and the “novel in verse” aspect sounded gimmicky. But no, this is a big story told in the fewest, most perfect words.

Five stars from me!

Yeah, I read a while ago now and loved it.

For anyone thinking of picking it up, I'd recommend the audio. For any novel in verse, it's what I usually do and think it's worth it.

I just finished this not too long ago. I thought the use of the verse style of writing was really interesting and creative. And it was beautifully written. That's such a great idea Lynn, I wish I would've listen to the audio, I think I would've appreciated the story more if I had done that.

I listened to the audio also, and I enjoyed it. At first, it was strange to me that the author was using a historic event (plane crash that happened in 2001) yet current technology (video chatting), but I got used to it.