The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Zoboi, Ibi and Salaam, Yusef. Punching the Air. HarperCollins, 2020.

Amal sits in the courtroom with his family at his trial for a fight he was involved in with a white boy, Jeremy Mathis, who is now in a comatose state. Peer witnesses are called from his specialized art high school across town in East Hills, a predominately white neighborhood. Amal tries to believe his lawyer, Clyde, that everything will be okay and that his family will still love him no matter what the verdict is.

Amal is found guilty and transferred to a juvenile corrections facility. He struggles to sleep on his first night in the facility while he thinks about how Allah could have allowed him to be in such a horrible place. Amal attends math class with the other incarcerated boys, but the class is constantly interrupted and derailed. One of the other boys, Kadon, bothers Amal during their free recreation time by grabbing his crayons. Amal enjoys artistic expression as a way to manage his stress, anxiety, and fear about being incarcerated.

Amal is confined to his cell after an altercation with a racist prison guard, and he nearly goes insane in solitary confinement. He feels as though he is fighting against Allah and trying to hold himself together all at the same time. He sees his mother and his lawyer on visiting days. They tell him that Jeremy Mathis' condition has stabilized and they plan to do everything they can to get him out soon.

Amal receives letters from a girl he had a crush on back in school, Zenobia. She writes that she always believed his version of the night the fight took place and she promises that she never forgot him. Amal begins to send poems and drawings back to Zenobia to show her that he remembers her too. Amal waits for his Uncle Rashon to come visit the facility, but it is still too painful for Rashon to see his nephew incarcerated.

Amal becomes closer to Kadon, Amir, Smoke, and Rahmarley. He is allowed to join Ms. Imani Dawson's poetry class. She asks the boys about their feelings regarding their pasts and what the truth is about their lives. Amal leaves the room and thinks about all of the small mistakes and misgivings that he has for the night of the fight that changed his life.

Amal begins to share his story in the poetry class and he feels like all of the boys have formed some kind of brotherhood to help them maintain their sanity through incarceration. He is offered the opportunity to paint a mural in the visitation room as his final project with his friends. He enjoys painting the mural and he finally begins to feel free. The next day, the guards have painted over the mural, and Amal is dejected.

Amal resolves not to give up and finds himself strengthened by his Uncle Rashon's visit. Rashon encourages him to keep his head held high. Jeremy Mathis finally wakes up, and Amal gets a new lawyer to work on getting his case revisited. Amal mails an envelope of his art to Ms. Dawes.