This Book Won't Burn

This Book Won't Burn
Author: Samira Ahmed
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2024-05-07
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0316548391

★ “[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?

This Coven Won't Break

This Coven Won't Break
Author: Isabel Sterling
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2020-05-19
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 045148035X

Isabel Sterling's gripping sequel to These Witches Don't Burn is equal parts sweet romance and thrilling mystery. Hannah Walsh just wants to finish high school. It’s her senior year, so she should be focusing on classes and hanging out with her new girlfriend, Morgan. But it turns out surviving a murderous Witch Hunter doesn’t exactly qualify as a summer vacation, and now the rest of the Hunters seem more intent on destroying her magic than ever. Of course, Hannah knows a thing or two about juggling romance and recon missions, so when she learns the Hunters have armed themselves with a serum capable of taking out entire covens at once, she doesn’t think twice about helping. Hannah could be the best shot at finally defeating the Hunters. After all, she’s one of the only Witches to escape a Hunter with her magic intact. Or so everyone believes… As the Hunters get dangerously close to their final target, and Hannah is at risk of losing everything she’s ever known, will all the witches in Salem be enough to stop an enemy determined to destroy magic for good?

Don't Burn This Book

Don't Burn This Book
Author: Dave Rubin
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2020-04-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0593084306

"Topical, engaging, personable, and above all, reassuring." -Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life From host of The Rubin Report, the most-watched talk show about free speech and big ideas on YouTube right now, a roadmap for free thinking in an increasingly censored world. The left is no longer liberal. Once on the side of free speech and tolerance, progressives now ban speakers from college campuses, "cancel" people who aren't up to date on the latest genders, and force religious people to violate their conscience. They have abandoned the battle of ideas and have begun fighting a battle of feelings. This uncomfortable truth has turned moderates and true liberals into the politically homeless class. Dave Rubin launched his political talk show The Rubin Report in 2015 as a meeting ground for free thinkers who realize that partisan politics is a dead end. He hosts people he both agrees and disagrees with--including those who have been dismissed, deplatformed, and despised--taking on the most controversial issues of our day. As a result, he's become a voice of reason in a time of madness. Now, Rubin gives you the tools you need to think for yourself in an age when tribal outrage is the only available alternative. Based on his own story as well as his experiences from the front lines of the free speech wars, this book will empower you to make up your own mind about what you believe on any issue and teach you the fine art of: Checking your facts, not your privilege, when it comes to today's most pervasive myths, from the wage gap and gun violence to climate change and hate crimes. Standing up to the mob against today's absurd PC culture, when differences of opinion can bring relationships, professional or personal, to a sudden end. Defending classically liberal principles such as individual rights and limited government, because freedom is impossible without them. The Progressive Woke Machine is waging war against the last free thinkers in the world. Don't Burn This Book is the definitive account of our current political upheaval and your guide to surviving it.

Hollow Fires

Hollow Fires
Author: Samira Ahmed
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2022-05-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0316282847

This powerful, gripping thriller from a New York Times bestselling author shows the insidious nature of racism, the terrible costs of unearthing hidden truths—and the undeniable power of hope. Safiya Mirza dreams of becoming a journalist. And one thing she’s learned as editor of her school newspaper is that a journalist’s job is to find the facts and not let personal biases affect the story. But all that changes the day she finds the body of a murdered boy. Jawad Ali was fourteen years old when he built a cosplay jetpack that a teacher mistook for a bomb. A jetpack that got him arrested, labeled a terrorist—and eventually killed. But he’s more than a dead body, and more than “Bomb Boy.” He was a person with a life worth remembering. Driven by Jawad’s haunting voice guiding her throughout her investigation, Safiya seeks to tell the whole truth about the murdered boy and those who killed him because of their hate-based beliefs. This gripping and powerful book uses an innovative format and lyrical prose to expose the evil that exists in front of us, and the silent complicity of the privileged who create alternative facts to bend the truth to their liking.

Before I Burn

Before I Burn
Author: Gaute Heivoll
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2015-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0857892185

In the late 1970s, a pyromaniac runs amok in a close-knit community in rural Norway. Homes are burnt to a cinder, and panic spreads, as neighbors wonder who amongst them could be wreaking such fear and anguish. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, a mother comes to realize that her son is lighting the fires. Born into this time of chaos, Gaute Heivoll is indelibly linked to the arsonist intent on such destruction. By juxtaposing the pyromaniac's story with his own, Heivoll explores memory, loss, and the agonizing separation of child from parent that it is a rite of passage for us all. Written in fluid, luminous prose, Before I Burn is a literary sensation, by the foremost Norwegian writer of his generation.

Nothing Left to Burn

Nothing Left to Burn
Author: Jay Varner
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2010-09-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1616200294

Nothing Left to Burn is a remarkable memoir that looks into the life of a family that has spent years harboring secrets, both dark and volatile. It eloquently tells the story of a son’s relationship with his father, the fire chief and a local hero, and his grandfather, a serial arsonist. When Jay Varner, fresh out of college, returns home to work for the local newspaper, he knows that he will have to deal with the memories of a childhood haunted by a grandfather who was both menacing and comical and by a father who died too young and who never managed to be the father Jay so desperately needed him to be. In digging into the past, he uncovers layers of secrets, lies, and half-truths. It is only when he finally has the truth in hand that he comes to an understanding of the forces that drove his father, and of the fires that for all his efforts his father could never extinguish.

Amira & Hamza: The War to Save the Worlds

Amira & Hamza: The War to Save the Worlds
Author: Samira Ahmed
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2021-09-21
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0316540498

From bestselling author Samira Ahmed comes a thrilling fantasy adventure intertwining Islamic legend and history, perfect for fans of Aru Shah and the Land of Stories. On the day of a rare super blue blood moon eclipse, twelve-year-old Amira and her little brother, Hamza, can’t stop their bickering while attending a special exhibit on medieval Islamic astronomy. While stargazer Amira is wowed by the amazing gadgets, a bored Hamza wanders off, stumbling across the mesmerizing and forbidden Box of the Moon. Amira can only watch in horror as Hamza grabs the defunct box and it springs to life, setting off a series of events that could shatter their world—literally. Suddenly, day turns to night, everyone around Amira and Hamza falls under a sleep spell, and a chunk of the moon breaks off, hurtling toward them at lightning speed, as they come face-to-face with two otherworldly creatures: jinn. The jinn reveal that the siblings have a role to play in an ancient prophecy. Together, they must journey to the mystical land of Qaf, battle a great evil, and end a civil war to prevent the moon—the stopper between realms—from breaking apart and unleashing terrifying jinn, devs, and ghuls onto earth. Or they might have to say goodbye to their parents and life as they know it, forever.…

Books Burn Badly

Books Burn Badly
Author: Manuel Rivas
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 563
Release: 2010-02-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1409089495

On 19 August 1936 Hercules the boxer stands on the quayside at Coruña and watches Fascist soldiers piling up books and setting them alight. With this moment a young carefree group of friends are transformed into a broken generation. Out of this incident during the early months of Spain's tragic civil war, Manuel Rivas weaves a colourful tapestry of stories and unforgettable characters to create a panorama of twentieth-century Spanish history. For it is not only the lives of Hercules the boxer and his friends that are tainted by the unending conflict, but also those of a young washerwoman who sees souls in the clouded river water and the stammering son of a judge who uncovers his father's hidden library. As the singed pages fly away on the breeze, their stories live on in the minds of their readers.

This Spell Can't Last

This Spell Can't Last
Author: Isabel Sterling
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2020-04-28
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0593327020

Hannah and Veronica battle a Blood Witch in the thrilling, heartbreaking prequel to These Witches Don't Burn. Turns out, New York City is kind of a nightmare for a witch. Hannah's not exactly loving her trip to the city, considering the huge crowds and layers of concrete blocking her connection to the elements. But a weekend away with her best friend, Gemma, and her girlfriend, Veronica, still has its advantages. After all, it's hard to complain when you're making out with the Statue of Liberty in the background. With Veronica's graduation on the horizon, Hannah is determined to enjoy every second of their time together, even if that means hanging out with Veronica's new friends, a group of Caster Witches determined to stir up trouble with a local Blood Witch. Thrust into the middle of a terrifying magical feud, Hannah begins to question if she can really trust Veronica, especially with her heart. And with a vengeful Blood Witch on their trail, she'll have to use every ounce of her powers to make sure she gets back to Salem alive.