Rating: 5 for the ability to use this in the English classroom and for a solid novel in verse
My Thoughts:
Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X, and With the Fire on High is a distinctive voice in the YA market. In this novel in two voices with distinct styles of poetry for the two main characters, Acevedo takes the real plane crash of American Airlines flight 587 that went down in November of 2021and creates a novel of grief and secrets with two daughters of one of the victims. Camino, in the Dominican Republic, and Yahira, in New York City are only children who are used to Papi being in New York during the school year and in the Dominican Republic during the summer. Both girls have very special relationships with their fathers, but until their father dies, they do not know about each other.
If using this in the classroom, Harper Collins has a teacher's guide that will guide discussion, including if teachers want to use this and The Poet X as a paired reading.
As a mentor text, students can analyze craft on voice, alternate perspectives, and tone. (high school common core standards RC.3 and RC.13. In addition Teaching Books also has some ideas for using this book in the classroom.
From the Publisher:
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.
Publication Information:
Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Publisher: Quill Tree Books (May 5, 2020)
Book length: 432 pages
Grade level: 9-12
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