Punching the Air

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There's no point in failing your students again and again. No one improves like that. Constant sarcasm and belittling the students don't do anyone good. Goldstein, Susannah; Hershberger, Katy; Knapp, Maggie; Leffel, Ashley; Riemer, Carla (2020-11-23). "Best Young Adult Books 2020 | SLJ Best Books". School Library Journal . Retrieved 2022-01-22. Punching the Air is a young adult novel-in-verse by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam, published September 1, 2020 by Balzer + Bray. amal is a creative kid, and while incarcerated, self-expression through art is one of the only joys he is permitted. when that is taken from him, all that's left to do is read and study.

Gutterman, Annabel; Katzman, Rebecca; Maunz, Shay (2020-11-24). "The 10 Best YA and Children's Books of 2020". Time . Retrieved 2022-01-22. Shelf Awareness's Best Children's & Teen Books of 2020". Shelf Awareness. 2020-11-24 . Retrieved 2022-01-22. In a positive review for Booklist, Terry Hong complimented the audiobook narrator, Ethan Herrise, for how he "embodies the novel in verse" with "careful, thoughtful precision." [8] I like novels written in verse because I find them refreshing and something out of the box. I belie it is not as easy as it sounds to write a story with depth and everything only in verse. This was my first time reading something by Ibi Zoboi and I am glad I did. The co-author is Yusef Salaam who has been convicted of a crime he did not commit years ago. This is not Yusef’s story but it is definitely inspired by it and that makes it more realistic.Kindregan, Emily (Winter 2020). "Punching the Air". The School Librarian. 68 (4): 248 – via ProQuest. Amal sees the injustice in the system, sees how institutional racism marks him as a criminal even though he is a kid. He sees the very different life choices laid out for him and his friends, and for the white kids.

Zoboi and Salaam decided to write the novel in verse to mirror Amal's connection to poetry, as well as to incorporate the concept of hip-hop, which Salaam refers to as "a genre that was created by us for us. It is the language of the people. It is a protest language. It is a way that we codify the more powerful and salient ideas. Poetry can capture a feeling and when it's being read or spoken, it's magnetic." [9] Reception [ edit ] I haven't met a kind and wonderful teacher in my life till date. I find teachers in movies and books (nonfiction, memoirs, autobiographies) far more inspirational. What a beautiful, heart-wrenching, infuriating but hopeful journey. The story is about a teenage Alam who went against his gut instinct ended up in a situation where he made one wrong move that changed the course of his entire life. While this is not the story about Yusef Salaam, a prison abolitionist and one of the Exonerated Five, it does draw on some things that he experienced when he was wrongfully imprisoned. Stevenson, Deborah (2020). "Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 74 (2): 110. doi: 10.1353/bcc.2020.0724. ISSN 1558-6766. The illustrations/formatting didn’t come across particularly well on the ebook galley but now I have a hard copy, I can appreciate how wonderful the formatting and design is.

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That's the Thirteenth Amendment, known for being the abolition of slavery. Except it didn't abolish slavery. Slavery still exists.

Courtney, Pentland (2021-03-01). "Punching the Air". School Library Journal . Retrieved 2022-01-22. There are stories like these that surpass the point of it being just fiction only and encompass the full capacity of what powerful storytelling can do, more than a non-fiction story ever could. SLJ Staff (2021-06-23). "2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winners Announced". School Library Journal . Retrieved 2022-01-22. 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.Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 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? Barbiero, Delfina V. " 'Punching the Air' review: Yusef Salaam of Central Park Five pens moving racial justice story". USA TODAY . Retrieved 2022-01-22. Best Fiction for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2021-01-14 . Retrieved 2022-01-22. Pasha, Omar T. (2022-01-18). "Punching the Air: Omar T. Pasha's 2021 BGHB Fiction and Poetry Honor Speech". The Horn Book . Retrieved 2022-01-22.

Saunders, Barbara (2020-09-18). "Punching the Air - Book Review". Common Sense Media . Retrieved 2022-01-22.

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i really appreciate when such evocative fiction can be used to teach young readers about important subjects (racism and our country's need for prison reform, in this case). This is also written in verse, and I think it lends itself very well to the text - giving Amal a more human, emotional connection to the reader as we get to experience Amal's life from his deepest, most inner thoughts. The prose are beautiful, and the imagery is perfectly pitched to match Amal's feelings of regret, remorse and grief at the loss of his future. I don't think I can express how important, poignant and devastating this novel was to read. Written in collaboration with Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated five, this clearly draws heavily in Salaam's own experiences to help shape the main character of Amal. Amal is simply a boy, in the wrong place, who makes one mistake that leads to devastating consequences. Instead of being understanding and getting to the root problem, constantly doubting the students do more harm.