Read this when
Punching the Air
They saw a threat. He saw a canvas. 🎨 Write it, draw it, keep your mind free.
Who it's for
Amal, a sixteen-year-old Black artist and poet, is convicted after a fight leaves a white teenager in a coma, and the verse lets readers live inside his fear, rage and self-doubt.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Punching the Air is a 2020 young adult novel in verse by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam. It follows Amal Shahid, a 16-year-old Black art student and poet, whose life changes after a violent incident in which he is accused of assaulting a white boy, sending him into the criminal justice system and juvenile detention.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla where licensed) and as an ebook and an unabridged audiobook.
Before you start
Heads up: Racism and violence in juvenile detention.
Age: Ages 14+
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, Chapter II
