Yahaira Rios, a Dominican American New York girl, a former star chess player who carries the secret that knocked her father off the pedestal she had built for him, also loses a father on that flight. How do you grieve for your father once you discovered that he wasn’t the person you thought him to be? Every time I read an Elizabeth Acevedo book, I think that it can't possibly top her previous work, but every time I am so, so wrong. And whilst Camino is helping her aunt care for the sick people of their neighborhood, Yahaira tells us that: "I hang out every Saturday with Dre, / watching Netflix or reading fashion blogs".

This really added to the book for me as I had sooo many questions about their Father and how this would impact both girls. One horrible day, both Camino and Yahaira realize that their dad dies on a plane crash on his way to the DR. The situations they have to face are frightening and upsetting but they have to face them no matter if they want to or not and in the end both girls come out of it stronger.Secondly, this explores the diaspora from two ends: the way the island is stamped on first generation Americans, and the way that America sits in dreams of those on the island split from their families. When I first came across this book, I was not aware of the backstory of what led to this incredible book.

I love the Spanish language that is interwoven giving the story more heart, lending it more authenticity and even though you might not understand it, you still understand it. It's clear that Yahaira didn't mean anything bad when she asked Camino to pick her up, but it's also understable that Camino would interpret that in a less favorable way. The novel also handles other thematic notes with so much clarity and grace; namely the question of identity, what it means to grow up in a world you felt only halfway inside of and constantly question your claim to your parents’ roots when you’ve never set foot in their world. I very rarely read anything that’s entirely in-verse, and if I’m being totally honest, it’s not my favorite.I really enjoyed Yahaira’s contemplations on her sense of identity that was covered in the book, both her parents are Dominican, but she has been born and raised in New York. How can they reconcile the loving, attentive father with this newly revealed side of him: the terrible husband and the selfish man? I wish more YA books would push the message that opening up about your problems is actually PREVENTIVE and HELPFUL. The second poignant, powerful and passionate novel in verse from the 2019 Carnegie Medal winning, Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author of THE POET X.

The topics of grief, identity and love are presented with care but also with the raw emotion expected. And then I realized that I got to the end without even noticing the verse anymore because it felt so organic. TL;DR: Don’t let the structure of this story throw you off — it’s an incredibly engrossing and lyrical of family, love, loss, and growing up.Camino and her Tía's relationship blended in so well, and the importance of family, love, and communication developed so well. Both girls have their own struggles, but Camino is especially threatened without her father to protect her. When it emerges that Papi wishes to be buried back in DR, Yahaira's Mami insists that she will never let her "touch foot on the sands of that tierra. There were so many moments and experiences that Acevedo captures that were things I've never seen or don't often seen explored in fiction. This isn't a story meant to teach you about these things; these are realities for our two main characters, captured succinctly by Acevedo.

At the same time, across the Atlantic, Yahaira Rios learns that her hero Papi has died in a plane crash. I was an undergrad, and I remember wanting to capture the joy of that moment when the plane first skids right against the runway, and you know you made it. Written in free verse, it sounds like lyrical speech, a lyrical prose, a spoken word with different rhythms — nothing that my rigid understanding would have seen as poetry. Am I only just now adding all three of this authors books to my TBR because I have been living under a rock? Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award, amongst many others.

When flight AA587 crashes to the ground, Camino and Yahairo Rios want nothing but to believe it was not the flight their father was in.