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  1. Books
  2. Ages 9-12
  3. Crime and adventure stories ages 9-12

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3.7(6)

Punching the Air

New York Times and USA Today bestseller * Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor * Walter Award Winner * Goodreads Finalist for Best Teen Book of the Year * Time Magazine Best Book of the Year * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

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. A must-read for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

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, because of a biased system he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated. 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 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.


Authors:

  • Ibi Zoboi
  • Yusef Salaam

Narrator:

  • Ethan Herisse

Format:

  • Audiobook

Duration:

  • 4 h 34 min

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Ages 9-12
  • Crime and adventure stories ages 9-12
  • Ages 9-12
  • Stories ages 9-12
  • Ages 9-12
  • Children’s nonfiction ages 9-12
  • Ages 9-12
  • Children's classics ages 9-12
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Love and life
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Novels
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Mysteries
  • Teenage and young adult
  • Nonfiction

More by Ibi Zoboi

Skip the list
  1. Black Enough

    Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, Coleen Booth, Dhonielle Clayton, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Lamar Giles, Leah Henderson, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Kekla Magoon, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Liara Tamani, Renée Watson, Rita Williams-Garcia

    audiobook
  2. First Day Around the World

    Ibi Zoboi

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  3. (S)Kin

    Ibi Zoboi

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  4. A Little Bit Super : With Small Powers Come Big Problems

    Gary D. Schmidt, Leah Henderson, Pablo Cartaya, Nikki Grimes, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Remy Lai, Kyle Lukoff, Meg Medina, Daniel Nayeri, Linda Sue Park, Mitali Perkins, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Brian Young, Ibi Zoboi

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  5. Nigeria Jones : A Novel

    Ibi Zoboi

    audiobook
  6. The People Remember

    Ibi Zoboi

    audiobook
  7. Pride : A Pride & Prejudice Remix

    Ibi Zoboi

    audiobook
  8. American Street

    Ibi Zoboi

    audiobook

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  • 9 books

    Ibi Zoboi

    Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist; Nigeria Jones, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; Pride; My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich; Okoye to the People: A Black Panther Novel for Marvel; and the Walter Award and LA Times Book Prize–winning Punching the Air, cowritten with Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam. She is also a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for her picture book The People Remember and her middle grade biography of Octavia Butler, Star Child. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her family. You can find her online at ibizoboi.net.

    Read more

  • 1 book

    Yusef Salaam

    Dr. Yusef Salaam was just fifteen when he was wrongly convicted in the “Central Park jogger” case, along with four other boys. In 2002, after years behind bars, they were fully exonerated. Their story has been documented in award-winning film and acclaimed Netflix series . Yusef is now a poet, activist and inspirational speaker who lives in Atlanta, GA. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama. www.yusefspeaks.com

    Read more

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Excellent4.3 out of 5