BOOKISH... Join us for our monthly book club! BY JOEL FRANCIS
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t's July, which means I’m back with another 3 books that I’ve read this month. I am recommending these books for everyone, even if you're not a fan of the genres, because they are just incredible - I hope you give them a chance and enjoy them!
CLAP WHEN YOU LAND Elizabeth Acevedo Genre: Young Adult What’s in the pages? "I am beginning to learn that life-altering news is often like a premature birth: ill-timed, catching someone unaware, emotionally unprepared & often where they shouldn't be.” When Yaharia and Camino River's father dies in a tragic plane accident, their lives are changed forever. In two different countries, with a sea separating them, they have to come to terms with it in their own way. In the depths of their loss, they learn about each other's existence and the different lives that their father led. Why should you read it? I've talked about Elizabeth Acevedo before, so I will save you the preamble and say this: Author Extraordinaire. In Clap When You Land, she tackles grief through the loss of a loved one and manages to evoke the sentiment by showing how everyday life has to move on despite the loss. The book is written in verse, and this in turn also helps to drive the message of loss home. The author uses inventive spacing and design choices to make the reader pause and think of the meanings and implications of specific phrases throughout the text. I am starting to think that Acevedo is much more than just an author. She is a creator of worlds that you have never visited, and somehow inhabit. And people you've never met, that somehow become your closest family and friends. 54
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE JULY 2020
