I just looked back at the post where I listed my favourite young adult books from 2021. When I wrote that, I resolved to read more YA in 2022. And that didn't happen. In fact, I read fewer. Just one of the three books on this list is a YA book; the other two would be classified better as late middle-grade. The reason I include them here rather than on my MG list is that I know I would have enjoyed them more as a young adult than as a middle-grader! Clap When You LandI love it when I chance upon a book that I've never heard of and love it! I was scrolling through recommended reads on Kindle Unlimited, and I came across Clap When You Land. It had nearly 5,000 ratings. That was all I looked at before I downloaded and read it.And I loved it. Verse novels, when well done, are brilliant. I love their sparseness - no beating around the bush, no unnecessary details, just … [Read more...]
Clap When You Land
A YA verse novel told from two points of view? Yes, please. And one with a secret at its core? Always. Clap When You Land was a stunning read, one that made my heart ache even as I rejoiced with all the women in the story who emerged triumphant, and stronger than ever.Yahaira, who lives in New York City, knows her father's secret. But she thinks she needs to keep it from her mother.And Camino, who lives in the Dominican Republic, knows nothing. She does not know that her father does not live in the United States only for work. He has a family there - another wife and another daughter.When he dies in an air crash, all the secrets come tumbling out. How can Camino accept a sister, who monopolised her father right through the year? How can she come to terms with the huge wealth divide between her father's two families? And worst of all, how is it that she is the only one who never … [Read more...]