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Punching the Air

Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam

Ages 14–18

Readers rate it 4.5 (61 on Hardcover)

400 pages · Released Sep 1, 2020

Content report card

Punching the Air parent’s guide: what’s inside

High confidence

Sexual content

LGBTQ+ themes

What it offers

Educational value

A note for parents

This powerful novel in verse addresses systemic racism, wrongful conviction, and mass incarceration through the story of a Black teenage boy falsely imprisoned. While the subject matter is serious and emotionally heavy, the book is thoughtfully written and ultimately affirming, showing how creativity and resilience sustain the protagonist. The mature themes and prison setting make it most appropriate for high school readers and up, particularly those ready to engage with social justice issues.

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From the publisher

The story that I thought was my life didn’t start on the day I was born 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... The story that I thought was my life didn’t start on the day I was born 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. The story that I think will be my life starts today 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? With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both. source: https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780062996503/punching-the-air/

Shelved under

  • YOUNG ADULT FICTION
  • Social Themes
  • Prejudice & Racism
  • Law & Crime
  • violence
  • Poetry
  • Suspense
  • Young Adult Literature
  • nyt:young-adult-hardcover=2020-09-20
  • New York Times bestseller
  • Young adult fiction, law & crime
  • Young adult fiction, social themes, prejudice & racism

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ISBN 9780062996480 · Balzer + Bray

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