![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
- — - — - — - — -
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
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.
Papi’s death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now, Camino and Yahaira are both left to grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now take to keep their dreams alive.
Why you should read it: This is the second book I've read by Elizabeth Acevedo, and I loved it. So much complicated heart, packaged up in a surprisingly quick read. The two main characters and their separate lives feel like an inevitable collision course, and I couldn't wait for them to meet. A beautifully crafted story.
- — - — - — - — -
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.
Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce–the protagonist of Dear Martin–Quan’s story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there’s a dead cop and a weapon with Quan’s prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.
Why you should read it: Oh, this lands HARD. Just as beautifully written as Dear Martin, with so much heart I needed to step away and just process my feelings more than once. Quan is an incredible character, who gets into your heart on page one and digs steadily in deeper along the way.
- — - — - — - — -
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
Why you should read it: This book is beautiful and painful, written with a narrative structure that took me a while to adjust to but ultimately worked perfectly for the story. There's so much honesty and truth on these pages that I'm still thinking about it ages after the fact.
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
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.
Papi’s death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now, Camino and Yahaira are both left to grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now take to keep their dreams alive.
Why you should read it: This is the second book I've read by Elizabeth Acevedo, and I loved it. So much complicated heart, packaged up in a surprisingly quick read. The two main characters and their separate lives feel like an inevitable collision course, and I couldn't wait for them to meet. A beautifully crafted story.
- — - — - — - — -
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.
Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce–the protagonist of Dear Martin–Quan’s story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there’s a dead cop and a weapon with Quan’s prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.
Why you should read it: Oh, this lands HARD. Just as beautifully written as Dear Martin, with so much heart I needed to step away and just process my feelings more than once. Quan is an incredible character, who gets into your heart on page one and digs steadily in deeper along the way.
- — - — - — - — -
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
Why you should read it: This book is beautiful and painful, written with a narrative structure that took me a while to adjust to but ultimately worked perfectly for the story. There's so much honesty and truth on these pages that I'm still thinking about it ages after the fact.
Tags:
