This Book Won’t Burn by Samira Ahmed Book Review

I love social justice books. We really need them right now.

This Book Won’t Burn is from Samira Ahmed, an author who deserves to be looked up to, by authors and advocates alike. I admittedly wasn’t much of a fan of Love, Hate & Other Filters, but Internment was a dystopian book about American internment camps for Muslims that catapulted its way into my favourites. She’s written other works since then, but this is my third time trying out a work from her, and I guess lightning strikes twice. And maybe it will keep being that way. 

This is about a young teenage girl named Noor, her little sister Amal, and their mother. Their father just one day…left a note and abandoned them, with no warning, no hope for figuring things out, nothing. Leaving them high and dry, their mom decides to move them from the bustling liberal-leaning city to a mundane pretty-much-all-white rural town. I guess their mom felt they had to start over. Doing that is stressful enough, especially when their father left them like that, but standing out as one of the only two Muslim students in the middle of the year?

Things don’t start off so grim. Noor and Amal both end up making some decent friends. In Noor’s case, Faiz, Juniper and Andrew. And she really likes her librarian and English teacher. But it soon becomes apparent that a book ban is taking place, and anyone paying attention to what is happening right now knows the fascists are disguising the notion of protecting kids against books that would make them uncomfortable or subject to pornography, even though the Bible has adultery and enslavement, only for starters. Not to mention books about racism are supposed to make one uncomfortable, and good on Noor for calling out all the so-called unacceptable actions in The Scarlet Letter, even though that’s read everywhere in schools. Goes to show they want to silence LGBTQ people, not protect kids from so-called pornography.

Feeling like Noor can and must do something about this, she starts with baby steps. Reading outside during lunch for anyone willing to listen to her cool books. Creating an outside club. Reaching out to the community. Making new friends. And when the sharks come out to try to silence her, the war begins.

Last year, I was quite harsh on a book that was out to do good, called Watch Us Rise. And actually, one of the co-authors of that book gave praise for this book. Both books are about small grassroots school movements meant to dismantle hurtful policies. What I didn’t like about Watch Us Rise is, its antagonists, while wrong on their parts, weren’t intimidating, despicable, or present enough to warrant the passion and anger against them. But the antagonists in This Book Won’t Burn, on the other hand, made me furious. If they were around during the Civil Rights Era, I have no doubt that if they were not shouting for people of colour to be hanged under their KKK robes, they’d have served tea and cookies for those that were. A good bad guy is almost always beneficial for a story, and this book has several under a common goal of erasing identity. I easily devoured it.

One of the best treats of this utterly addictive book are callouts to some other books in the YA genre that discuss similar social justice issues. One of them, Anger Is A Gift, is in fact one of my favourite books of all time. Others I’d heard of prior, others I’d better get my hands on right away. Samira Ahmed reminded me why I became a book blogger in the first place and why I love it so much; to spark discussion that will make reluctant readers see the value of books, especially on ones that make such a difference in the world. 

My only critique is that I wish there was a bit more of a personal touch as to why Noor devotes herself to fighting the bans. There is an example given, about the fun she and Amal have in reading, and how it used to be with them and their Dad, but I would’ve included something like a book that made Noor feel related to. But you know what? Whatever! 

The actions the antagonists do to try to stop Noor are blood-boiling and sadly realistic, especially when you feel you can get away with something. This is a black-and-white and completely truthful depiction of the way racist bigots act and talk. We really wish we as readers could go up to them and sock them in the jaw, and it aches me imagining what it’s like for other people out there like Noor. I was worried about if they would ever be punished for their actions. I turned the pages, but I was sometimes scared to.

We live in a very divided world. Maybe we always did, but it’s definitely blunt and out in the open these days. And I hope enough people grow up seeing what’s in front of them to see how evil the conservative mindset is. When some say “Conservative values” or “Republican ideologies”, I hear trying to maintain conformist traditions by not letting anyone who has alternative desires pursue them. In other words, not letting people be who they truly are, love who they want, pursue what they want, be in control of their own bodies if they’re a woman, and in this case, be able to be represented in the books on the shelves.

This Book Won’t Burn might be a bit similar to other books in the genre. But why mess with it if it’s effective and important storytelling?

My grade: 5 stars out of 5