This Book Won't Burn
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- 5,99 €
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- 5,99 €
Publisher Description
'Blazes with searing honesty and unflinching emotional truth' Becky Albertalli, award-winning author of SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA
From the New York Times bestselling author of Internment comes a timely and gripping social-suspense novel about book banning, activism, and standing up for what you believe in.
'Reading is dangerous because it shows us the truth. Words give us power; that's why some adults want to silence us'
Noor Khan is the new girl at school. Moving to the tiny town of Bayberry with her mother and sister after their family life is upended, she's determined to keep her head down and make it through her final year, unnoticed.
While hiding out in her school library, Noor notices that hundreds of books are being removed from the shelves and boxed up: a new school policy banning books that parents object to. Worse, almost all the books being targeted are by queer and BIPOC authors.
Outraged, Noor and her new friends decide to read some of the banned books out loud to their classmates, to protest this new policy at school. But in Bayberry, trouble is never far behind.
Can Noor effect change by speaking up, while navigating the politics of small-town life? And can she trust the son of the school board president, who she finds herself falling for?
'Rings with truth and hope' Joanna Ho, bestselling author of THE SILENCE THAT BINDS US
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Book banning, homophobia, and racism intersect as a newcomer confronts one small town's "fascist BS" culture. Halfway through senior year, 18-year-old Chicagoan Noor Khan is devastated when her immigration-lawyer father "torched our lives" by abandoning the family. Their distraught mother moves Noor and her younger sister to conservative, rural Bayberry, Ill., for a fresh start. At Noor's new, overwhelmingly white high school, a zealous school board led by politician Steve Hawley removes hundreds of books deemed pornographic. Activist-minded Noor notes that "they're censoring practically all queer or BIPOC authors" and stages lunchtime banned book readings at a nearby park with new friends Faiz and Juniper. Though school administration disciplines Noor and hints at violence if she doesn't comply, she continues hosting her book club in the evenings at a VFW hall until someone tossing a Molotov cocktail through the building's window escalates events. Meanwhile, Noor's growing feelings for Faiz are complicated by interest from charming, wealthy, and good-looking Andrew, who turns out to be Hawley's stepson. Characters display resolute integrity and deliver dialogue that zings in this timely offering by Ahmed (the Amira & Hamza series), who employs high stakes, increasing tensions, romantic near-misses, and adult hypocrisy to powerful effect. Noor cues as Southeast Asian. Ages 12–up.
