As Amal’s story unfolds, Zoboi and Salaam delve into the issue of the disenfranchisement of young black men. While out with his friends one night, the group has an altercation with a group of white boys in a recently gentrified area. i really appreciate when such evocative fiction can be used to teach young readers about important subjects (racism and our country's need for prison reform, in this case). The two have created a new character with Amal, but there's no doubt that his experiences have been heavily-inspired by Salaam's.

Booklist's Reinhardt Suarez wrote about how Salaam's "experiences lend a visceral gravitas to Zoboi’s pen, and together they capture Amal’s emotional struggles as he grasps for hope despite his circumstances. Kirkus Reviews, [1] TIME, [20] Shelf Awareness, [21] School Library Journal, [22] the New York Public Library, [23] and Publishers Weekly [24] named Punching the Air one of the best young adult books of 2020. Amal makes an alliance with a group of Black teenagers in prison after a group of white teenagers beat him up. He was just a boy, often seen as a man, trying to hang on to his art, his faith, his love and his hope in a world that was trying to crush him.The book discusses the many systems put in place by white Americans that disadvantage and discriminate against Black people. However, Amal leaves his first session of the class because he does not like the activity, one that makes them reflect on their mistakes and misgivings. Amal was an artist and a poet so the format of the book was fitting and felt like an insight to his mind. A must read for the significance and importance of the topic and also to enjoy the experience of reading an incredibly well crafted verse novel.

From his birth, the narrative quickly moves into the courtroom, seeing everything through the mind of Amal during his trial.While this is fiction, it tells the harsh realities faced by many young black men and boys in this country.