Yes, Punching the Air Is Banned!
ISBN: 9780062996480
📖 Why You Should Read This Book
Zoboi and Salaam (one of the exonerated Central Park Five) wrote a verse novel about a wrongfully imprisoned teenager. It's protest literature in its purest form.
Punching the Air is a novel-in-verse following Amal Shahid, a sixteen-year-old Black Muslim artist and poet who is wrongfully convicted of assaulting a white teenager and sentenced to a juvenile detention center. Inside, he uses art and poetry to survive a system designed to break him. Co-written by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five (formerly the Central Park Five), the book draws on Salaam’s real experience of wrongful conviction.
The novel has been challenged for its depictions of violence, profanity, and themes related to racial injustice and the criminal justice system. Its unflinching look at how the legal system fails Black youth has made it both an award-winning critical success and a target for book bans.
Why Was It Banned?
Where Was It Banned?
Read It Anyway
The best response to a book ban is reading the book. Here's where to get it:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Punching the Air banned?
Yes, Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam has been banned or challenged in 7 documented instances across 3 states in the United States, including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania. It remains one of the most frequently challenged books in America.
Why was Punching the Air banned?
Punching the Air has been challenged and banned for the following reasons: Violence, Profanity, Racial Themes. These challenges have come from school boards, libraries, and parent groups seeking to restrict access to the book.
Where is Punching the Air banned?
As of 2025, Punching the Air has been banned or challenged in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania. Notable bans include Keller ISD (2022), Clay County School District (2023), Central Bucks School District (2023).