by Ivi Zobol, 386 pages, Grades 8 and up.

Amal is in prison, accused of hurting a peer. This book, written in verse, is a collection of his musings about hopes he had for his life, and dreams about what he would become in the world as well as what it is like being in prison as a Black man. He is only 16, can you really be counted as a man at 16? Prison life is frightening, dehumanizing, and psychologically taxing.

He has so much of his life still in front of him, but now he finds himself trapped, without hope, wondering how he will go on. 

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If you enjoy novels in verse about difficult subjects you might also like: Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds, The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo, or Paper Hearts, by Meg Wiviott.

Tags: identity, incarcerated youth, prison, novels in verse, realistic fiction, sad stories, social justice