But at the end: all those suffering and emotional stress you endured are truly worth it because this is unique and beautiful sisterhood story brighten your mood and it is one of the best young adult fiction novels of the year. There was a level of raw emotion and real despair rarely seen in a YA book and that was tempered by love and familial support.

In this novel we follow two sisters perspectives and how they are grappling the devastation of their fathers death. Camino also says flat-out that she is 100% financially dependent on her father: "without his help life as we’ve known it has ended. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. In two distinct voices, Acevedo explores the rich inner lives of the sudden half-sisters as they grapple with their complicated feelings about their father and the secrets he kept. things that distinguish Camino and her aunt Tía from the rest of their neighborhood—things that for Yahaira, and for me, are the most normal thing in the world.This is one of the most moving explorations of grief that I've ever read, a deep-dive into the lightless depths of what it means to lose something and be utterly unable to move on—not only a literal person, but also a way of life. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this woman is incapable of writing anything but 5 star masterpieces. Not only are her writing and characters outstanding and utterly remarkable but the way she grapples with the various layers Latinx identity is something that I’ve never experienced before. It is not an easy thing to do, / for a Haitian parent to bring their child / to a Dominican hospital to give birth. How do you grieve for your father once you discovered that he wasn’t the person you thought him to be?

And now gone and it's just the two daughters, hunting in the rubble of his life for answers, trying to find their way to each other across the many distances that divide their two worlds. Deaths and tragic losses result in constant sorries and I'm sorry for your loss', but Yaya and Camino are tired of having to see these people go from strangers to people that suddenly know their pain, and it's frustrating how much people can change.

She is also the author of With the Fire on High --which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly , and School Library Journal --and Clap When You Land , which was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I opened this book but when I saw the writing style I was a little bit sceptical at first. We also learn that Camino lives amongst hustlers, people her father gave money to to keep an eye on her. I love that it puts that idea at the center of this story, and then populates it with all of these incredible and strong women.

The book explores themes of grief, family, and cultural differences that would be great for her young adult audience to read.

Like all of Elizabeth Acevedo's books this story is written so so beautifully and it touches on a lot of heartfelt, sensitive topics. She is also the winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, The Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, the Boston Globe-Hornbook Award Prize for Best Children's Fiction and the Pura Belpré Award for a work that best affirms the Latinx cultural experience. We learn that only through her father's life (and job) in the US were they able to have iron locks on their doors, running water in their home, and a working bathroom . Clap When You Land, written by Elizabeth Acevedo, is a young adult novel published by HarperTeen on May 5, 2020. A lyrical, heartfelt exploration of what it means to discover secrets, to find family, and to discover your own hidden resources in the face of great loss, and surprising joy.