Read the full issue of Trauma Matters here. This review of Punching the Air is a re-post from the spring edition of Trauma Matters. To purchase this book, please consider using my Amazon or links. The authors expertly crafted a young man in Punching the Air with his own humanity in a world bent on crushing him. Please see post of this book for an #OwnVoices review (and let it be known that her picture absolutely blows mine out of the water, you don’t have to tell me because I already know)! I will share her review in my stories today as well. Reminiscent of Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, I would file this book into the “required reading” section of my imaginary syllabus. My ONLY complaint about this book is that the ending cutoff too early for me – as a reader, I would’ve liked another 30 pages or so. Punching the Air (2020) is a young adult novel in verse by award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam. This work of fiction could easily be changed up a bit and become a non fiction story about his experience being wrongfully convicted and put in prison. Knowing that Yusef Salaam, one of The Exonerated Five, weighed in and helped write this book felt like a punch to the gut. This compelling, poignant novel had me angry, sad, engrossed and on edge. I have read a handful of novels written in verse in the last year by Jason Reynolds, Elizabeth Acevedo, and now Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam. Click the following links to read the book synopsis on Goodreads or The StoryGraph.
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