Ahmed, Samira. Hollow Fires. Fiction. Little Brown, 05/2022. 395 [+8]pp. $18.99. 978-0-316-28264-2. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 9-12.
This breathtakingly paced exploration of the personal and societal impacts of Islamaphobia in today’s America challenges the reader to understand the underlying forces driving an intolerable act of violence. As editor of her school paper, seventeenyear-old Safiya Mirza begins to confront the conservatism of the elite prep school she attends, balancing her desire for journalistic independence with an increasing knowledge that impartiality is not an option for dealing with the embedded biases she uncovers. But when fourteen-year-old Jawad Ali is labelled a terrorist for building a homemade Halloween costume, then disappears and is subsequently found murdered, Safiya begins to hear his voice both literally and figuratively and must choose how much of her own to sacrifice in the search for truth. Samira Ahmed writes beautifully and has also included succinct but important notes on historical context and content at the end of the book.
Lesley Mandros Bell, Oakland Library Advocates