Weekend Picks for September 19th

Fall is fast approaching, and we have the YAL suggestions to keep your TBR list stocked. This Weekend Picks is brought to us again by Dr. Dan Stockwell who recommends another work, Punching the Air, by the amazing Ibi Zoboi and co-authored with Yusef Salaam. 

Happy reading, all! 

Dan Stockwell

To remind our readers who our contributor is this month, Dr. Dan Stockwell, a former high school English language arts (ELA) teacher, is an assistant professor of English Education at California State University, Bakersfield. Dan serves as a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Secondary Section Steering Committee. He has recent publications in NCTE’s English Journal and in the California Association of Teachers of English’s California English journal. His book, Teaching for CHANGE in the ELA Classroom, was published in March of 2025 by Routledge. Dan’s scholarship investigates how secondary ELA teachers can provide critical literacy pedagogy, even in restrictive contexts.

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

As the beautiful artwork on the cover of Punching the Air illustrates, this is an impactful book that shows the power of family, art, words, and truth.

Co-written with Yusef Salaam, who was wrongfully convicted along with four other young men in the “Central Park Jogger Case,” this book tells the story of a young Black man who is also convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Sixteen-year-old Amal Shahid is the protagonist of this story, told in Amal’s voice through his poetry. In Arabic, Amal means “hope,” and throughout this book, Amal struggles to maintain hope as he is convicted and sentenced to serve time in juvenile detention, where–just like in the world outside the detention center’s walls–he faces racism and discrimination. ​

In the detention center, Amal attends poetry writing workshops that inspire him, even though he was already a skilled poet. He also reads books by Black men suggested to him by his uncle. 

Like most of Zoboi’s work, this book alludes to Black scholars, activists, and artists, so interested readers can add to their reading list as they finish this book. In addition to his poetry, Amal expresses his truth visually with markers and paint during his time in detention.

This book inspires any reader, but especially teens of color, to use truth as a tool for resistance and healing.

Ibi Zoboi

Yusef Salaam