Resiliency & Heart Are What Set This Book Apart!

Join us for the launch of This Book Won't Burn, the electric new YA title by SAMIRA AHMED! Uprooted and then dropped into a new school nothing like her old one, Noor is spiraling, determined to keep her head down to just make it to graduation. But when her new school starts banning "obscene” books that just turn out to be written by queer and BIPOC authors, Noor must decide if she's going to hold her tongue to make it to the end of the school year, or speak her mind and stand up for what she believes in. SAMIRA AHMED will be in-conversation with DHONIELLE CLAYTON, author of The Beauty Trials.

In This Book Won't Burn, 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? 

Tuesday, May 7th at 6PM ET at Our 17th St Store!

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