Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

 

“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?” - taken from Goodreads.com

A powerful story in verse about Amal, an African American teenager, who finds himself wrongfully imprisoned for assaulting a white teenager.  

Visit Ibi Zoboi’s website.

Visit Yusef Salaam & the Innocence Project.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Avecedo

“A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.” taken from Goodreads.com

My students know that I’m not a fan of poetry but any free verse novel that I do “read”, I actually listen to. The Poet X had caught my attention when it was first published but I didn’t pick it up until just now when I listened to the audio version read by the author. Elizabeth Acevedo is a National Poetry Slam Champion and brings her words literally to life. An absolutely heartbreaking yet encouraging read about Xiomara and her struggles with her domineering mother. The author is also an audiobook narrator for other author’s novels. This will definitely not be my last listen by the author.

Visit Elizabeth Avecedo’s website.

Crossover by Kwame Alexander

"With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.

Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Visit Kwame Alexander’s website.