WAKE NOW IN THE FIRE

a fictionalized account of book banning in Chicago in 2013. Before the first Trump Administration, Brexit, and rise of right-wing movements all over the world, the Chicago Public Schools moved to ban a controversial book from classrooms and libraries. The students, who loved reading and studying it, stand up for their right to read in this moving account of youth activism and community action. While this title hews close to the true events, identifying details have been changed.

It starts as an update at one Chicago high school: copies of a certain book are no longer allowed in the classrooms or the library. But it's not just one high schoolit's all Chicago public schools. Not even the principals know why this is happening; they just know they must comply with the order. One thing is clear: The book, which tells a story of oppression, survival, and resistance against authoritarian power, is seen as a threat, dangerous enough to ban.

One other thing is clear: Some of the students aren't going to let this go without resistance of their own.

As the extent of the ban becomes known, the students rise up. They organize a school-wide walkout and library sit-in. They publicize the banning in every forum they can: social media, the press, classes, clubs, the school paper. And most of all, they get everyone they know to read the book: Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi.

Told from multiple perspectives, based on extensive interviews with the real-life students and teachers who were affected, and written by the librarian who exposed key information about the Chicago Public Schools censorship decision, Wake Now in the Fire is a fictionalized account of a true event that galvanized a community. With illustrations by Alex Award-winner AJ Dungo that perfectly capture the everyday joys, heartbreak, and stresses of high school, this graphic novel is an inspiring portrayal of student activism taking on one of most urgent issues of our time, and a passionate reminder of why protecting the books we love matters.

Jarrett Dapier is a Chicago-area librarian and the recipient of the John Phillip Imroth Award from the American Library Association for his work exposing book censorship in the Chicago Public Schools. He is the author of several award-winning picture books for children, one of which has faced several censorship attempts.

AJ Dungo is a graduate of ArtCenter College of Design. He has worked with Nike, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bleacher Report, Doubleday & Cartwright, This American Life, The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, and Virgin Orbit. His first graphic novel, In Waves, was an NPR Favorite Book and an ALA Alex Award winner.