This Book Won't Burn, by Samira Ahmed

     From the wonderful author who brought us Internment and Love, Hate and Other Filters, This Book Won't Burn is a good story that centers around book challenges and bans. According to the American Library Association, last year there were more book challenges and bans in the United States than any other year previously. What that means is that more people (or people being more organized) are working harder trying to determine what you and I can and cannot read, using the explanation that certain books are not "good" for us and should not be available. This dog agrees that not every book is right for every reader, and that parents and guardians should have a say in what their own kids and teens are reading (just like they should have a say in what kids eat, view on screens, etc.). However, more and more there are people wanting to tell ALL of us what is good for us, and what we should not be able to read (or eat, or view). I don't believe this is right, or a good direction for our society to go.

    Author Ahmed uses her main character Noor to tell the story of book bans happening in her school. She moves from a big city to a small town with her sister and mom after her father abandons the family, and this particular small town has adults who are organized in removing library books from the high school library shelves, based on what this small group feels is acceptable for teens to be reading. Because Noor is a high school senior, there is a strong romantic aspect of the book, as she tries to navigate not just the book bans but also her feelings for not one - but two - different boys! One comes from an Indian family, like she does, and one is the son of the man who is leading the community book ban movement.

    Ahmed is a really good storyteller, if you are not familiar with her writing. This Book Won't Burn is written more for older middle grade and high school readers, but there isn't anything too strong if you wanted to read this and weren't quite at 8th grade yet (some strong language, but not pervasive and not gratuitous). The message she is trying to get across to the reader in this story is very relevant and timely, and thus pretty important. This is a slightly more mature version of A.S. King's Attack of the Black Rectangles, which is also good but written for an earlier middle grade audience.

    I love the message of this story, and even though I also love a good romantic story, the middle of this book lags a little as the romance completely takes over the story, and the censorship storyline disappears for a while. As a complete book, I recommend this. I especially recommend this to anyone interested in understanding the seriousness of censorship, which is what book banning is. It is happening more and more across the country, and will need your voice to help stop that trend. This book will give you a lot of good information on both sides of the book censorship debate, and for that I recommend it even more. Not quite 5 paws, but definitely 4 paws and a wag!