Review Quotes A wrenching novel whose story, told in verse, is both urgent and heartbreakingly familiar.Amal's name is the Arabic word for 'hope.' That is what this book ultimately offers, too. 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. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison. 'Boys just being boys' turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Then, one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. But even in a diverse art school, because of a biased system he's seen as disruptive and unmotivated. One of the most acclaimed YA novels of the year, this New York Times and USA Today bestseller is a must-read for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.Īmal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. New York Times and USA Today bestseller * 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 Yearįrom 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. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art'. 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. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. But even in a diverse art school, he's seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system.

About the Book 'Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet.

Punching the air book cover