Punching the Air by Yusef Salaam
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 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, 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. The story that I think will be my life starts today 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 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.
Salaam, Yusef: - Yusef Salaam was born in Harlem, New York City and raised in Lumberton, North Carolina, where he graduated from J. H. Hayswood High School in 1965. He writes regularly for the New York Beacon. He is a member of the National Writers Union. He was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss Why White Men Fear Black Men. The Harlemite is the recipient of several awards and grants, including a Council of the City of New York Proclamation for his contributions as an English teacher and writer. He is currently writing a children's book, Elijah Muhammad: Builder of a Nation and a book of essays, Healing My Soul of the Word Nigger. His plays have been produced and read on stages in theatres, libraries, homes, restaurants, cultural centers, and colleges.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780062996480 |
| ISBN 10 | 0062996487 |
| Title | Punching the Air |
| Author | Yusef Salaam |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers Inc |
| Year published | 2020-09-01 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Prizes | Commended for Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards (Fiction & Poetry) 2021 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |