Synopsis

New York Times and USA Today bestseller * Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor * Walter Award Winner * Goodreads Finalist for Best Teen Book of the Year * Time Magazine Best Book of the Year * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

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. A must-read for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

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, because of a biased system he's seen as disruptive and unmotivated. 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 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.

Author: Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam
Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harperteen
Published: 09/01/2020
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.60w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780062996480
Award: Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards - Honor Book

Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 08/01/2020 pg. 83
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2020
Publishers Weekly 08/03/2020
Booklist 08/01/2020 pg. 57
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2020 pg. 78
Shelf Awareness 11/24/2020
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2020 pg. 108
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 10/01/2020