Reading Hack Read and Review - Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam |
Reading Hack - Punching the Air
HarperCollins Children’s Books has a fantastic opportunity for 10 Reading Hack aged groups to read Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam. Based partly on Salaam’s experience being wrongfully incarcerated (previously depicted in Ava Duvernay’s Netflix series “When They See Us”), it tells the story of a young, Muslim, Black teen named Amal Shahid who is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Jason Reynolds calls is “a masterwork of humanity,” and Jackie Woodson writes, “In this beautifully rendered book, we are reminded again of how brilliant and precarious our Black Lives are and how art can ultimately heal us.”
More about the book:
From 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. Perfect for fans of the Noughts & Crosses series and The Hate U Give.
One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
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.
HarperCollins Children’s Books invites passionate groups to discuss the themes within the book and create a display in your library or classroom.
More about the book:
From 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. Perfect for fans of the Noughts & Crosses series and The Hate U Give.
One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
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.
HarperCollins Children’s Books invites passionate groups to discuss the themes within the book and create a display in your library or classroom.
This book is most suited for those aged 14+ and each group will receive 10 copies of the book and digital assets to help create an interactive display including an educator’s guide and author letter that can be downloaded.
HarperCollins Children’s Books would like groups to pitch where the young people taking part will be able to creatively review the book. We would love for each group to create a display as well as sharing their responses tagging @HarperCollinsCh and @readingagency on social media using the hashtag #PunchingTheAir. If you cannot commit to this, please do not apply. Some members of the group may also want to show their creativity by also composing a piece of art, a poem or even a video blog.
You have until 9am on the 21 September to pitch for this opportunity.
The books will be sent out to your groups shortly after this. Once you receive the books your group will have six weeks to send in their feedback.