Even with an unknowable future (and institutional forces working against him), Amal is able to use his art as a force for positive change in his life.Īuthor Background: Ibi Zoboi holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts (Zoboi, n.d.). While incarcerated, Amal is compelled to seek out opportunities to express his creativity - a drive that is nurtured by some who see his potential (a poetry teacher, a corrections officer) and heartbreakingly crushed by others. Glimpses of Amal’s past (planning for college, dreaming about his crush) are juxtaposed with his current reality behind bars at a juvenile detention facility.
Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five follows Amal, a talented Black teen enrolled in an arts high school, as he navigates a criminal justice system that seems designed to keep him down. Punching the Air by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zaboi and Dr.
Plot Summary: After a fight with a group of white boys in a gentrifying section of the neighborhood goes very wrong, landing a white boy in a coma, sixteen-year-old Amal Shahid is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Reading Level/Interest Level: Grade 8 and Up (SLJ). Genre: Realistic Fiction Novels in Verse.Īwards or Honors: School Library Journal Best Books (2020) Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding Children’s Literature (2020) Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award Winner, Best Audiobook (2020).
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