The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Punching the Air
Author: Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam
Published: September 2020
Genre: Literary
Themes: Incarceration

One sentence summary: Amal should have been somewhere else that night, but he was there and he’s now living with that decision. 

One sentence review: I devoured this and I already can’t wait this YA novel in verse read it again.

Review:

Amal should have been somewhere else that night, he could have been anywhere. But he was there and he’s now living with that decision. 

Amal can’t keep his temper in check and he’s far from the perfect inmate, but when he can express himself through his art or poetry, he feels free. He feels like there’s still hope. 

This is was brilliant. I devoured this and I already can’t wait to read it again. It’s a YA novel in verse, set around an incarcerated teen using art to keep hope.

It’s beautifully moving, pacy and engaging, everything you’d want in a YA. Being in verse worked so so well here, and I loved the origin of some of these poems too – I won’t spoil it, it’s explained in the authors note at the end! 

I always wonder how books with two authors will work but this was seamlessly written and such an incredible combination of skill and lived work. There’s so much heart and soul in this book, it’s pouring off the pages. 

There’s important conversations about racial injustice and young black men and I think a lot of people need to read this. This is my second of Zoboi’s and I can’t wait to read more. 

Have you read this one? Got it on your radar? Let me know! 

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And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 15/07/2026