Punching the Air
About this ebook
From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of the Noughts & Crosses series and The Hate U Give.
One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’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.
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About the author
Ibi Zoboi was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her novel AMERICAN STREET was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the editor of the anthology BLACK ENOUGH. Raised in New York City, she lives in New Jersey with her husband and three children. www.ibizoboi.net.
Dr Yusef Salaam was just fifteen years old when he and four other boys were wrongly convicted in the ‘Central Park jogger’ case. After the young men spent between seven and thirteen years behind bars, their sentences were overturned and they were fully exonerated. Their story has been documented in the award-winning film THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE and the acclaimed Netflix series WHEN THEY SEE US. Yusef is now a poet, activist and inspirational speaker who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama, among other honours. www.yusefspeaks.com.
