Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Punching the Air

I'm not one for poetry but this book is incredible.

The authors do such an amazing job creating such gorgeous but heartbreaking work with such few words. The whole thing is captivating. I couldn't put the book down.

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carriepond's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Punching the Air is a YA novel in verse co-written by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, who was wrongly convicted in the “Central Park jogger” case as a teen. Inspired by Salaam’s experiences, the novel follows Amal Shahid, a wrongly convicted teen who leans on his love for art, poetry, and books to sustain him and others during the demoralizing and dehumanizing experience of incarceration.

This book was so good— I read it all in one day. It touches on so much— the school-to-prison pipeline, mass incarceration, racism, and the power of art. It is heartbreaking but also hopeful. It is a powerful, beautiful YA book in conversation with other works on abolition and the inhumanity of our carceral system. Recommend.

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aniston_pond's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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upgirlcd's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is poetry and art.
This book is powerful.
This book speaks truth from a perspective most of us do not ever see.
As a Caucasian, Gen X woman, it is perspective for me to deeply wrap my head & heart around. My privilege.
I've been wrongly accused of shit like- sleeping with someone's man; passing a school bus.
Not even relatable to the color of my skin getting me incarcerated for assault.

The hip hop poetic writing makes this work even more powerful.

Read Punching the Air.

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djimerson's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is tough. We follow Amal, a 16-year-old Black teen charge with a crime he didn’t commit. Using his art talent and poetry/ rhyming skills, we watch him struggle through this sudden turn of events that have up-ended his life. It’s a very power message, but it is also rage inducing because the reader is faced with another case of racial injustice.

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seeceeread's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

💭 "Every dumb shit I did, they thought it was because of ... 'Trouble at home.' 'An absent father.' 'A tired mother.' 'Not enough books.' 'Not enough vegetables.' 'Not enough sleep.'"

Amal Shahid threw the first punch. But he didn't deliver the last, the one that put Jeremy Mathis into a coma.

A Black boy who failed art class, despite having studied the likes of Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Kerri James Marshall. He's failed to conform to a juvenile justice expectation of subdued self and suspended growth. He's failed by adults and especially institutions. To pass into managing his emotions about it all, Amal first abandons, then reclaims art — poetry, rap, drawing and painting — to lend color, line and shape to his realizations about it all.

The plot unfolds slowly, pulling readers into Amal as a narrator before sharing a full understanding of how his ruminations interlock. Then, captive and caged, we are strapped into his rage-realize-remember-regret-resent loop until a moment of vulnerability reminds him of how to choose expression to keep the rollercoaster on its track. Amal doesn't feel any less; rather, he channels his feelings into processes and pieces that offer others more meaningful containers for what spills over.

The authors capture an adolescent boy so well! I was transported back to conversations with former students: Ronald, who filled pages and pages with poetry and told me stories of disappointing his mother the year before with middle school antics. Delon, who loved Myers' 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 (a literary precursor!) and wanted to learn screenwriting once we finished; a boy who hadn't so much as looked at other assignments. Tevin, a gregarious football player whose neoligisms included iBall in a piece on identity. Amir, who aspired to self-publish a collection of love notes. Amal's perspective is constructed with images of sinking stones and butterflies, recurring thoughts, and sincere grappling with the emotional risks of being authentic (or not).

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iheartm4m's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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knifewifestan's review

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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