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Nothing Burns as Bright as You
From acclaimed author Ashley Woodfolk, Nothing Burns as Bright as You is an impassioned story about queer love, grief, and the complexity of female friendship that will keep your heart racing, and breaking, until the very last page.
Two girls. One wild and reckless day. Years of tumultuous history unspooling like a thin, fraying string in the hours after they set a fire.
They were best friends. Until they became more. Their affections grew. Until the blurry lines became dangerous.
Over the course of a single day, the depth of their past, the confusion of their present, and the unpredictability of their future is revealed. And the girls will learn that hearts, like flames, aren’t so easily tamed.
It starts with a fire.
How will it end?
Questions adapted from a guide created by Anastasia Collins (she/they), MA, MLIS, librarian, youth literature scholar, anti-oppression educator.
Book club questions for Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
Which poem from the book do you like the most? What made it stand out to you? Of all the poems in the novel, pick one that you think best captures the main characters’ relationship, and explain why.
How is reading a story in verse different than reading prose? How does the story being told in verse shape your understanding of the characters, their actions, and their relationship?
What makes a relationship between two people good or bad? Do all good relationships last and bad ones end? How do love and destructiveness co-exist in the main characters’ relationship? What makes their relationship unsustainable?
Discuss the novel’s second person narration. What is the impact of the main characters being referred to only as “you” rather than by name? How do you, the reader, engage with the “you” in the story? What does second person storytelling do that first or third person does not?
Nearly all of the novel is narrated by one of the main characters, except the first and last poems. What do you make of this? What is significant about one of the characters getting the most say in the story, and the other character getting the first and final word? What does it add to your understanding of their relationship, their intense affinity, and their insurmountable incompatibility?
Fire has multiple, sometimes conflicting connotations (warmth, utility, injury, discovery, destruction). What does the complexity of fire bring to this story of such a passionate, unstable connection? Many of the poem titles reference “The Fire”—what fire do you think they mean?
Think about the novel’s timeline. It opens and closes at the end of the characters’ relationship, and the bulk of the story is everything that came before. Many of the poems’ titles are time-specific, though none of them are in chronological order. What is the significance of all this in a story about a relationship that is a ticking time bomb?
Right as her world is unraveling, the narrator comes to a powerful truth—”I am worth fighting for too” (p. 227). How and why does this truth make the end of the characters’ relationship a certainty? What is the significance of this truth in world a world where queer Black girls like the main characters face erasure, bigotry, and violence?
Think about how our culture defines a “happy ending,” particularly with stories about two people in love. Now think about the conclusion of this novel. Is it a happy ending—why or why not?
In the author’s note, Woodson mentions that “clarity about how ingrained bi-erasure is in our culture” (p. 233)” helped her understand her own identity and put her past relationships into a different context. What is bi-erasure? (You can look it up if you’re not sure!) What role does bisexual, biromantic, and other queer representation like in this novel play in pushing back against erasure?
Nothing Burns as Bright as You Book Club Questions PDF
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Three starred reviews and several glowing endorsements from today’s top YA authors!
“A tautly written, fast-moving novel… that captures the unbalanced experience of an all-consuming love.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The rich language describing the way the two love each other is magnificent... A beautiful, emotionally charged novel." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"All of Woodfolk’s choices—every line break, indentation, and italicization... Even the blank space on the page helps to carry this piece to its full potential as a feverishly gripping, immersive, and emotional ride that will stick with readers for a long time... A masterfully crafted love letter to tumultuous, young, queer love and its lessons." —School Library Journal (starred review)
"Unapologetically shows the more challenging elements of falling—and staying—in love… This book has completely transformed the way I think about what it means to love unconditionally." —Nic Stone, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Odd One Out
"Nothing Burns as Bright as You is a beautiful exploration of first love with the emotional resonance that only an Ashley Woodfolk novel can bring. Exquisite from beginning to end." —Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give