Yelling to the Sky, Punching the Air

~Punching The Air~
By Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam
Amazon ~ Powell's

The story that I thought
was my life
didn’t start on the day
I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think
will be my life
starts today

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. 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.


This was one of those that was all over my Facebook scroll, and between the cover art, the authors, and the plot, I knew I had to get ahold of this real quick. Obviously, I knew Ibi Zoboi from reading Pride a couple weeks back, but I was less familiar with Yusef Salaam outside of the Central Park Jogger case and was interested in getting to know more about him creatively. Let's just say, I got more than I bargained for.

Don’t Let Your Pride Get in the Way of Your Heart

~Pride~
By Ibi Zoboi
Amazon ~ Powell's

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.


In addition to being interested in stories highlighting Black Experiences, I also have a soft spot for Pride and Prejudice. Not only was it one of the only books I enjoyed reading for school, but I've also enjoyed other renditions like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (though not so much the movie). So when I discovered a book that married these two interests, I knew I had to grab a copy as soon as possible. In the end, some of it worked for me, and some of it didn't...