All Noor Khan wanted to do was to get through the last three months of her senior year undetected. After all, her mother moving them to small-town Braybarry after their father abandoned them doesn’t mean she has to make friends. She can blend in, graduate and go back to Chicago to regain her normal life. Or whatever sense of normalcy she can after her father’s betrayal.

But it’s never easy to fly under the radar when you’re in a 90% white town, and when Noor finds out that her one safe haven, the library is dealing with bigoted censorship requests from the so-called Dads and Moms for Liberty, Noor ends up the face of anti-censorship and woke liberalism, and there’s plenty of people who want her and her outsider ways to get out of their pure, wholesome town.

But books and words matter, that’s why they’re feared in the first place and Noor knows she cannot be silence about books that are meant for everyone.

I think this quote sums it up.

“Books help us see ourselves but they’re supposed to challenge us, too, show us worlds and experiences that are different from our own Books help us open doors. We’re here asking you not to slam those doors in our faces. Let us read,” (Ahmed 356).

I don’t think I have to expound on how important this message is and how much I agree with it. I run a book blog for goodness’ sake! It’s ridiculous and hypocritical that these parents don’t see the irony (then again if they read more, maybe they’d see it) that they’re pro-parents rights but are trying to override the parents that want these books. That those books they consider obscene with sexuality and violence and people of color are also present in the books they love like the Bible. It’s one thing to ban what books your child reads but you shouldn’t dictate the reading material of other people’s children. Look, if you want to remain ignorant and anti-imagination, go ahead but they’re missing out.

Okay, I expounded a little but Ahmed’s writing makes you think. It also makes you angry which is the point because anger, when channeled in the right way, you can enforce change and help others who may feel too pressured or scared to stand up for themselves. But when one person makes a stand, you can see how many are on your side.

Noor is not only dealing with the vitrol directed at her but her internal anger at the sudden betrayal from her father that she hadn’t seen coming. She’s angry at him for leaving and knowing that she’ll never have the closure or answers. She can’t trust as before because letting people in means potentially getting hurt or betrayed, she just can’t trust herself as a good judge of character. It makes her snappish at the ones who want to help her like her sister or those who are hurting too like her mother.

Ahmed pays equal attention to Noor’s conflicting feelings of denial and anger, there are so many memories tied to her father especially related to fighting for social justice, against fascism and just her own personality. It hurts and makes so many things feel tainted, furthering Noor’s anguish because she wishes he didn’t have this sort of power over her. Also, her mother seems to be in a daze after their father’s abandonment and turns on Noor for standing up against the pro-censorship brigade when the Pre-Abandonment Mom would have helped her in her cause. It makes Noor feel more alone. Ahmed makes you completely empathetic for her even when she’s being judgemental and too willing to attack.

Ahmed also does a great job in creating fun, distinct characters like Noor’s little sister, Amal whose depression episode has Noor in overprotective sister mode which Amal pushes against, reminding her that she’s stronger that Noor believes. Honestly, I almost wanted a story from both their perspectives. Noor’s friends, Faiz and Juniper were equally sweet and fun, supporting Noor through the worst of the hateful attacks in the close-minded town.

Noor’s potential love interest was a surprisingly complex secondary character as the stepson to the wannabe politician, Mr. Hawley, leading the book-bans. Andrew is kind, gets Noor’s feelings in the familial aspects and gives her the pressure-free niceness she longs for. But he doesn’t have the moral backbone to re-evaluate his bigoted friends or stand up to his step-father even when he disagrees with what he stands for. Considering Ahmed’s last book, I was expecting charming hidden serial killer. Obviously, it didn’t go that way but Ahmed provided a balance portrait of someone who has potential to become better, but doesn’t get a cookie for the bare minimum.

Unfortunately, that leads to my one nitpick as there is a slight love triangle between Noor-Andrew-Faiz but with so much focus on Noor and Andrew, Faiz feels like he has less depth and I felt less connected to him and Noor.

But then, it’s not really about the love triangle, it’s an evocative, gripping book about a girl learning to make peace with herself, her past and her future and the power of books and young people for change. It will make you angry, it will make you hopeful, and it will make you want to grab another book on the shelf so you can immerse yourself in new time, and place that opens your mind to all the possibilities. Because if someone is trying to stop you from reading something, you should go out there and read it.

5 stars.