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“…Ahmed weaves evocative prose with images, articles, and text messages to explore with skill and depth the twining of social media in an age of misinformation, alt-right political movements, and racism and Islamophobia.”
—Publishers Weekly  (Starred Review)

Hollow Fires

Written by Samira Ahmed
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Safiya Mirza dreams of becoming a journalist. And one thing she’s learned as editor of her school newspaper is that a journalist’s job is to find the facts and not let personal biases affect the story. But all that changes the day she finds the body of a murdered boy.

Jawad Ali was fourteen years old when he built a cosplay jetpack that a teacher mistook for a bomb. A jetpack that got him arrested, labeled a terrorist—and eventually killed. But he’s more than a dead body, and more than “Bomb Boy.” He was a person with a life worth remembering.

Driven by Jawad’s haunting voice guiding her throughout her investigation, Safiya seeks to tell the whole truth about the murdered boy and those who killed him because of their hate-based beliefs.

This gripping and powerful book uses an innovative format and lyrical prose to expose the evil that exists in front of us, and the silent complicity of the privileged who create alternative facts to bend the truth to their liking.

Primary ISBN: 9780316282642
Available As: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Young Adult, Age 12 or older

Community Represented: , ,

Themes: , , , ,

Setting: United States

Character’s New Arrival/New American Status: 1st Generation, Unknown Arrival

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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