JANUARY YA BOOK OF THE MONTH: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo | the rise of novels in verse (an appreciation)

 Hi Everyone!

This is the final post about Clap When You Land! I thought it was appropriate to end the month on it as I also started it with this book! It is the YA Book Of The Month for January and I've already written a review of it and a post of mini discussions. In this post I wanted to talk about the rise of novels in verse. It is something I've noticed recently and I thought it would be interesting to share some thoughts with you. It is a rather messy post but I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless!

Novels in verse are of course novels written in poetry. To be able to write a book entirely in poetry is just an amazing thing! To be able to tell the story in such a way that you feel so close to the characters even in a restricted form is possibly what I think is most mind-blowing but just telling the story in the first place is such a skill. I can't even imagine where I would start writing a novel in verse!

Elizabeth Acevedo is so good at it and I've read one of her other books, The Poet X, and that one was the same as Clap When You Land. I remember being totally blown away when I read it. It's everything: the characters, the rhythm, the shapes that the poems make...it's just so clever!

Looking at Carnegie 2021 alone, there were three books written in verse! There was Clap When You Land of course, along with Run Rebel by Manjeet Mann which was also very well written and I really liked and a more obscure book called The Girl Who Became A Tree by Joseph Coelho. I wrote about them in my Carnegie 2021 Wrap Up. 

I was definitely surprised that there were that many but I've grown to love novels in verse so it was good for me! Less so for one of my friends who has a burning hatred for poetry! There is something about a novel in verse, something fresh and unique that I just love. The rhythm (like in most poetry) is something I adore and when it tells a story or a part of one on top of that...it's just magical! 

I have also read All The Things We Never Said by Yasmin Rahman which is written in three parts, one of which is in verse. It was my first introduction to a verse narrative and it was very effective, giving the character such a unique voice.

In Clap When You Land, the way it is written definitely adds to the reading experience. For some reason this book makes me feel like I was just dropping in for a small part of these characters' lives and then going away again! It is down to the story because it only covers a bit of their lives but it also is partly because of the structure because you never really get into the characters' pasts and the depths of their personalities because you have so little from them. Yet you feel so close to them but when I think about it, there are a lot of questions that I have about them and their feelings! 

I think I wouldn't love Clap When You Land as much if it was written in prose and the fact it is written in poetry is something I wholeheartedly admire and appreciate.

Novels in verse are now very much their own category and I can't wait to read many more! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chatty post!

Let's chat!

Have you read a novel in verse? Would you like to read one? Do you have any recommendations for me?

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