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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?
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (12/04/2025)
...they are more to my liking. I did like The Serviceberry and found it well wortht the read, leaving me with much to ponder. My RL book club is reading This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed. I'm about a third into it. I like the topic (Banned Books) but am not a fan of YA. This just wasn't a banner month for my collective reading. From m...
-Barbara_B1
"Characters display resolute integrity and deliver dialogue that zings in this timely offering by Ahmed (the Amira & Hamza series), who employs high stakes, increasing tensions, romantic near-misses, and adult hypocrisy to powerful effect." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A timely story about silence as complicity, defending freedom, and the courage to fight against hate." ―Kirkus Reviews
"With pin-sharp attention to the complexities of grief, anger, and hope, Samira Ahmed gives us a main character who connects us with our own hearts and a story that connects us with our power to change our world." ―Anna-Marie McLemore, author of National Book Award nominee Self-Made Boys
This information about This Book Won't Burn was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Samira Ahmed is the bestselling author of Love, Hate & Other Filters, Internment, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know, Hollow Fires, and the Amira & Hamza middle-grade duology, as well as a Ms. Marvel comic book mini-series. Her poetry, essays, and short stories have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including the New York Times, Take the Mic, Color Outside the Lines, Vampires Never Get Old and A Universe of Wishes.
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