A review by monicalaurette
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book first caught my eye because of the beautiful colors on the cover and the imagery with the butterfly. So I picked it up and read the summary. 

I personally love to watch documentaries about people being proven innocent and getting to go back into freedom, and I’ve seen ‘When They See Us’ that showcased the Exonerated Five (granted I saw it after purchasing this book but whatever). I wish there weren’t so many documentaries and shows that are about helping those wrongfully accused get free, but I like to see them get to hug their families and drive away from the prison that was their home for however long. I feel bad that I can’t do anything for them, since they are already out, and the most I can do for others wrongfully accused that are still locked up is just retweeting their story. But hopefully stories like this and the ones before it, and the world we are creating today, that that will be less common.

“....like everything that I am, that I’ve ever been counts as being guilty.”

So based on the above, and the summary you’ve probably already read, this story follows a young, black teen named Amal who is wrongfully accused of assaulting another teen (a white one from the rich(er) side of town). Written in gorgeous poetry (and in my opinion sometimes they were like lyrics), this follows Amal’s life from trial to into his time in juvenile detention. You watch as Amal works hard to not lose himself while staying alive. Ways that he does this is using art, both words and drawing.

I gave Punching the Air 5 stars because the flow of the words was beautiful and painted a heart-breaking and emotional story. I wish stories like this didn’t have to be something that is so common that while fictional, it’s based off Yusef’s own incarceration, but instead they were truly rooted in fiction.

“They call it free time and it's the biggest lie because we are still in here.”

I loved the comparison of the courtroom doors leading to the jail with the Door of No Return to America. It was powerful and I felt that for many, especially the younger ones that are in these situations, it has this same feeling.
I know I’ve wanted to punch the real life versions of Ms. Rinaldi in the different documentaries that I’ve seen and I wish that she was real so my anger could be put towards someone else. How dare she help him hone his art to get into a summer program and testify against him like that? (also like…I know why she did it too….starts with a ‘R’)
Wished we could have learned the outcome of Jeremy’s testimony and how it affected Amal’s sentence and if he’d stay in there because Amal’s future rested on that.
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