Clapping While I Land. Dang. Finished @acevedowrites at Exactly the Right Time. So Glad I Chose This Text.

Every semester, in most of my courses, I select a YA novel I've wanted to read, but haven't had the time to read. Why? Because I want to model to pre-service and in-service teachers, sometimes you never know what you'll know until you dig in. This was the case for Clap While You Land, a poetic novel written by Elizabeth Acevedo. The Poet X was a fantastic read and I've used it in workshops for teachers and youth on numerous occasions. She is a master of craft, poetic narrative, and engaging story. What I loved most about Clap While You Land, however, is how it helped me to see how ignorant I am.

I fully own this.

Although I went to college in Binghamton and had many Dominican friends, especially after I wrote a poem for La Voz Latino, I never learned much about Dominican culture and history. Knowing this semester I would have Spanish teachers, I wanted a YA text where there'd be language I wouldn't know. I knew there'd be history, science, and maybe even math, too (it's a content literacy course). Yes, I have language arts people in the class, but my goal is to break all content areas out of bad habits and to follow Freire's reading of the word and the world. I wanted to put Ogle's KWL to work. What do we know? What do we want to know? What have we learned? If I was the expert, I couldn't model this.

I brought Acevedo with me to the beach a few times (not the actual writer, but the writing) and finished half the book before the semester began. Life took off, there were zero seconds available to finish it, so I finally carved out a few hours last night to bring closure to the book. 

WOW. It's simply a stunning text. 

Harper Teen also did a miraculous job with the hard cover of the book. The two-toned, two-location design of front and back is simply brilliant. I've been using these images as Keynote slides in preparation towards reading the book: articles about the plane crash, Dominican history, stories of Dominican baseball players doing environmental justice work, articles on water pollution and eco-tourism, and trivia about global demographics.

I've been straight up with my students, too. My work and research has been with African-born refugee youth, 26 years of working in urban, public schools, and a labor-of-love with the National Writing Project. I've learned much, but never about Dominican culture. That's okay. I'm almost 50 and still ready to learn.

Acevedo was there.

The book is not just the factual information of colonial histories, politics, and global diaspora...it's about the humanity that should be within us all. That's what I gained from reading Clap When You Land. We need family. We need others to look out for us. We need to share our truths and stories. And, there's tremendous importance in challenging the single stories we too often hear (that is, if we are listening to the universe at all). 

I have to note, however, that as I was reading, Karallynne Karma Cupcake was adamant about getting my attention. She kept barking and growling so I would pay attention to her. I noticed, but I was so engrossed in the story, that I paid her no attention. So, she jumped in my lap and watched me read the rest of the book. Some of the pages I read to her, but most of the time she just stared at me. I told her, "I can't teach you to read tonight, but I promise to give you lessons as soon as I can." 

Bottom line is that Acevedo is a gift to us all. I'm in love with the story-arc, poetics, trivia, imagination, and human exploration. I cherish, too, the strong womanhood displayed throughout, and the fact that the father, albeit flawed, is more complicated than the daughters can imagine. That, coupled with spirituality, traditions, and economic realities has me thinking this is one of the best books I've read in a while (and that's saying a lot...I spent time after reading emailing numerous kids, families, and teachers wondering if they've read this yet - another missing link in the MANY missing links within the "American" storybook collection). 

The conclusion? I am a better human being after reading this. And I'm thankful. I can't wait to teach this tonight and see where my graduate students take the learning!