Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

HOLLOW FIRES by Samira Ahmed (Internment) is sure to spark discussion. This young adult novel would be an excellent choice for literature circles and book clubs. Ahmed utilizes different types of text (news articles, media transcripts and interviews) plus two primary narrators to describe events surrounding the tragic disappearance of a young boy in Chicago. His name is Jawad Ali who at 14 used recycled materials to create a jet pack costume for Halloween and was subsequently arrested because a teacher thought it might be a bomb. Sadly, this part of the story parallels real world events. The second voice is that of Safiya Mirza, Editor in Chief of her high school newspaper, The DuSable Spectator. She is a crusader, but also is portrayed as a typical teen worried about friendships and a budding romance. Together with friends, Safiya investigates Jawad’s disappearance and battles disinterest and outright hostility from authority figures in law enforcement and her school administration.

In 2019 Samira Ahmed wrote a piece for School Library Journal which challenged Librarians to “Use Your Power;” she said in part, “I’m asking you to examine the role we adults play in creating such a brutally unfair world for our children and to do what you can to change it. It starts with a conversation. It starts with challenging yourself.” Ahmed supports powerful conversations by beginning HOLLOW FIRES with definitions for Facts, Alternative facts, Truth and Lies and then adds provocative examples before each chapter like Lie: “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening” (Trump, July 24, 2018); Truth: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final and most essential command.” (George Orwell, 1984); Fact: “Truth is stranger than fiction.” HOLLOW FIRES received starred reviews from Kirkus (“An unconventional murder mystery takes a sharp look at racism and Islamophobia in America”) and Publishers Weekly.  Here is the publisher’s discussion guide.