Their economic differences, which Camino resents so much, cannot cancel their sisterhood.Īcevedo tells their stories in her signature powerful and vivid verse. But Acevedo shows that both feel their grief, fear, and betrayal as intensely as the other. And Camino believes Yahaira’s idea of a dangerous man is one who catcalls her on the street. Meanwhile, Yahaira’s biggest worry seems to be dealing with her father’s disappointment that she no longer plays competitive chess. Every day she is hounded by a man who clearly wants to lead her into a life of prostitution. to attend university there because she knows opportunities for girls where she lives are scarce. Camino, for example, lives in relative poverty. What they are experiencing seems very different. Can they form a new friendship out of unthinkable loss?Īcevedo chronicles Camino’s and Yahaira’s emotional journeys in a way that brings readers inside their lives, making all their struggles, hopes, and dreams burst intensely onto the page. How could he do this to her? Their worlds collide when Yahaira decides to visit Camino. What she didn’t know was that he also had another daughter. Meanwhile, Yahaira Rios, living in NYC, has been grappling with the discovery that her father had been previously married. So she is stunned to learn that he had another family back in the U.S. He always brought his warm laughter and his unconditional love with him, even if he could not always be with her. When Camino Rios hears that her father, who visits her in the Dominican Republic every summer, has died in a plane crash, she is devastated. Elizabeth Acevedo’s Clap When You Land is a powerful novel-in-verse that explores loss, grief, and the ties that bind families together.

Clap when you land elizabeth acevedo