Review by C.J. Bunce
The next must-read for teens, librarians, and school teachers arrives next week. Wake Now in the Fire could not be more timely. Written by Jarrett Dapier, a librarian for young adult students, with art by AJ Dungo, it’s the story of students in a real Chicago school system who were subject to a book ban, and then did something about it. Every book ban should make you angry. And it should drive you to take action. According to the Washington Post, only ELEVEN individuals were responsible for 60 percent of the 1,000-plus challenges to books filed in 37 states between 2021 and 2023. That should just make you angry. In the case of the Chicago event, the very person in charge of the school system who claimed she knew nothing about the ban was actually directly involved (ultimately she went to prison for unrelated crimes). Wake Now in the Fire (available for pre-order now here at Amazon) recounts the event in graphic novel form, and its 464 pages look at the impact the ban of even a single book can have on a community, school, teachers, parents, and students–all trying to learn from some of the world’s most important books.
George Orwell’s 1984. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Watchmen by Alan Moore. The defunding of public broadcasting wiping Sesame Street off the air. The title is an allusion to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the ultimate lesson and sci-fi cautionary tale of book burning and censorship.
What does it mean when someone bans a book? It says they don’t want you to have access to information that may be critical for you to know, that they are trying to cover up those responsible for the events and experiences depicted in that book. It’s all about them hiding, about them taking away your ability to make your own informed decisions. Oftentimes it’s about erasing history altogether, like books about slavery, about removing every chapter in American history where women and minorities were persecuted, where they were denied the freedom to vote or to assemble. Like the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II. America, like many countries, has its dark times. The experiences of people during those times need to continue to be freely shared and accessed in every library.
The characters in this story–a look at the 2013 event with names changed–have many great ideas and solutions, all as a start toward repairing society, beginning with their classroom and local school system. Start a banned books book club. Hold a sit-in. Pay attention to who runs for school boards and then vote accordingly. The students in this case got active. The author interviewed those involved. His Freedom of Information Act request was inadvertently responded to with documents including redactions that could be restored, revealing the complicit nature of the school system’s CEO–after claiming that no such documents existed.
Dapier uses the real lifestyles of teenagers and Dungo illustrates their interactions in a free and easy style that will make this a quick read for anyone. Readers will want to add this book to their shelf next to Girl Rebels: Five Inspirational Tales of Courage, Remember Us to Life, a Holocaust story by Joanna Rubin Dranger, and March, the autobiographical series about civil rights leader John Lewis. Librarians, teachers, and kids should consider it a required resource for every school and public library. It will remind readers of all ages not to take for granted the rights so many have fought and died to protect. From publisher Ten Speed Graphic, this book is a must for anyone looking for ways to take action on censorship or other important issues. Add Wake Now in the Fire: A Story of Censorship, Action, Love, and Hope now to your order list at Elite Comics or your local comic shop or pre-order it here at Amazon in hardcover, here in paperback, or here in digital. It’s available next week, February 3, 2026.
