The authors do an excellent job of showing how the prison experience can dehumanize young men and how their inherent talents can be overshadowed by their feelings of powerlessness and rage. It is clear that Amal has had a complex relationship with his education, particularly with his art teacher, who clearly saw his talent but also did not work very hard to support Amal’s burgeoning interest, and did a bad job of being a character witness at his trial. Through Amal’s first-person verse narration, readers learn about his aspirations as a poet and artist, as well as his experience entering the prison system as a young Black man. While there is a sense that he might not have done what he was accused of doing, it is unimportant whether this is the case for the book to work. Gr 8 Up–Sixteen-year-old Amal is tried and convicted of an act of violence against a white boy.
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