I've been seeing authors do some incredible things with verse novels lately. The two have created a new character with Amal, but there's no doubt that his experiences have been heavily-inspired by Salaam's. But when she teamed up with Yusef Salaam, one of the now-exonerated Central Park Five, I knew this book was going to be something special. I will pick up anything Ibi Zoboi writes and I highly recommend Pride and, especially, American Street. Amal Shahid has been forced into all kinds of stereotypes by his white prosecutors- thug, criminal, monster -but what he really is, is a boy and an artist. It talks racial profiling and prison abolition, but also poetry and art. It is a book about race and the way the judicial system and prison system in America disproportionately fails and oppresses black people. I really wish publication could be moved up for this book because, while I'm certain it's story will be no less relevant in September, it very much complements the discussions happening right now. 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. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. 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. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy.

But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.Īmal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. All prices and availability are subject to change without notice.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. Shipping and handling charges as well as return shipping charges may not be refundable in all cases.

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