This Book Won't Burn

★ "[Ahmed] employs high stakes, increasing tensions, romantic near-misses, and adult hypocrisy to powerful effect." -Publisher's Weekly, starred review

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.

After her dad abruptly abandons her family and her mom moves them a million miles from their Chicago home, Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves.

Reeling from being uprooted and deserted, Noor is certain the key to survival is to keep her head down and make it to graduation.

But things aren't so simple. At school, Noor discovers hundreds of books have been labeled "obscene" or "pornographic" and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Even worse, virtually all the banned books are by queer and BIPOC authors.

Noor can't sit back and do nothing, because that goes against everything she believes in, but challenging the status quo just might put a target on her back. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics--and small-town love--be her downfall?

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Published May 7, 2024

416 pages

Average rating: 9.5

4 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

NinjaNeo
Jan 31, 2026
10/10 stars
Is it too early to call my top read of 2026?? Because jaw. Dropped. Overall topic: book banning is bad. But the way this book dives deep into themes of activism, censorship, racism, and Islamophobia makes you feel like this was written today and taking place in a deep "red country" small town. It's extremely impactful and relevant, and also so motivating. Noor is a high school senior who had to move to a new town in the middle of her school year. A very conservative, very white new town, which she is neither. She ultimately has to choose between being silent and safe, or standing up to essentially the big wigs in her new community for what she believes in. She discovers that she's not alone and her new found friends give her the support to start and push a movement to fight books from being banned in her high school. I already know I'll be rereading this book frequently and referring back to so many quotes. Samira Ahmed never fails to deliver.

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