Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

 

Hollow Fires

May 5th, 2024

Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed, Realistic Fiction/Mystery 2022, 395 pages

Hollow Fires is gripping tale surrounding the death of fourteen year old Jawad Ali. Jawad was a promising student with an eye for inventions. After making a jet pack for Halloween and bringing it to school, Jawad is arrested for bringing a "bomb" to class. Jawad is ruthlessly called a terrorist by his community until one day, he is kidnapped and murdered. Safiya Mirza is a passionate writer who fearlessly leads her school's newspaper, shedding light on the injustices of the world. However, Safiya can't shake the feeling that someone is whispering to her--telling her to find Jawad. Safiya's entire life changes forever when she comes across the dead body of Jawad. Safiya, putting her life at risk against ghost skins (white supremacist who hides among the population) who hack her school newspaper, leaves no stone left unturned to find justice for Jawad and make sure his name is not forgotten. 

I chose to read Hollow Fires because I had read Internment by Ahmed and loved her action-packed, social justice oriented stories. I was also incredibly intrigued by the plot line after reading the synopsis on the back of the book. I knew Hollow Fires would touch on discrimination against Muslim Americans--a topic I have not seen represented in most of the young adult literature I have read. Additionally, I was fascinated by the concept of a ghost struggling to find justice for his own murder through another character. 

Teaching and Content Considerations:

I would recommend Hollow Fires to students who are in high school (9th grade and above) or to middle school students who receive parent permission. Hollow Fires has a lot of political content, adult language, centers around islamophobia and white supremacists, and features violent actions (murder/attempted murder). Hence, teachers may want to provide students with a warning about these topics before beginning the book. Students who enjoy reading books with strong female leads, the mystery/detective genre, twist and turns in a plot line, dueling perspectives, or books that have social justice themes will NOT be able to put this novel down! Overall, I think this book would work well as a book choice in a social justice literature circle unit or as an independent reading text.

Instructional Ideas

Historical Inspiration: One aspect of Hollow Fires that fascinated me was that Jawad's murder and the characters of Nathan and Richard are inspired by real events. Ahmed has an additional, short chapter called "Historical Note" that explains details of the murder that took place back in the 1920s. She also references a primary source for readers to explore called The Leopold and Loeb Files: An Intimate Look at One of America's Most Infamous Crimes by Nina Barrett. Thus, students could participate in an extension activity after reading the book to learn more about the crime that took place and the parallels mirrored in the book. This could be done by reading excerpts of the aforementioned book, reading online articles, or even watching In Search of History: Leopold and Loeb on YouTube. Even more, students could evaluate how well the author represented the real crime, killers, and what they wish was included in Ahmed's fictional story. 

Fact/Truth/Alternative Fact/Lie: At the very beginning of the novel, Safiya defines fact, alternative fact, truth, and lie for her readers. For the remainder of the story, Safiya starts each chapter off with an example of these terms. Students could practice making statements like these of their own as they read the novel in their journals. 

Class Newspaper: Safiya is the head of her school's newspaper, making it her mission to talk about instances of injustice in her own school, community, and beyond. If students were to read this book as a literature circle group, their group could create their own newspaper on Canva. Teachers could require the group of students to include an interview with one of the characters, an informative piece on one of the events that took place in the novel, an opinion piece, and perhaps an informational blurb on an event in real life (in modern times) that relates to the themes of the book. 

Possible Read Aloud Passages

• Pages 5-6: "One fact that is the truth. Jawad Ali was fourteen years old when he was killed. And I'm the one who found him. One day he was a ninth grader. Then he was accused of being a terrorist. Then he was murdered..."
• Right at the beginning of the novel we learn that Safiya has taken on the role as an investigative journalist to learn the truth about Jawad's murder--and that she was the one who found his body. This passage and the one below would be great to read out loud to get students intrigued about reading this story!
• Pages 9-12: " I made a jet pack. And they killed me for it. It wasn't even real..."
• Readers are startled at the start of this chapter when it appears that Jawad, the boy who was murdered, actually has his own chapters from beyond the grave. 
• Page 39-40: "Asma was talking, but I didn't hear her. It was like my entire body was screaming but my brain was frozen...I kept staring at my phone, looking at the definition of 'ghost skin:' a white supremacist who hides their beliefs to blend into a group or society and be undetectable. What the hell? A neo-Nazi had hijacked my column?"
• Safiya walks up to school one day and finds out that someone has hijacked the school newspaper and wrote a piece delcaring themselves a ghost skin who wants to "reclaim" the world from the "cockroaches" (anyone not white) at their school. Safiya googles the term "ghost skin" and discovers that their are neo-Nazis walking among them and targeting her ideas in the school newspaper. This is just one of many passages that will get students hooked to keep reading--and perhaps make predictions of who they think it could be!
• Page 56-57: FBI Finds "Ghost Skin" Infiltration at Highest Levels of Law Enforcement, Government"
• This mock newspaper article takes excerpts of a FBI report in real life regarding ghost skins in U.S. law enforcement. After learning about the ghost skin in Ahmed's book, students will be intrigued to learn more about the idea of ghost skins in our own world.
• Page 251: "'Do you like my scarf' she asked. 'It was a gift. From Richard. He brought it back from London.'"
• **Spoiler ahead**: At this point in the novel Safiya is pretty darn certain that Nathan is the ghost skin who killed Jawad. However, she finds out from Richard's jealous ex, Dakota, says that Richard was in London over winter break. Richard never told Safiya. This alarms her, as she presumed the threatening letter sent to her mosque (mailed from London) was from Nathan. Students will be thrown into a frenzy when realizing that Safiya's love interest could in fact be a murderer. 

Thoughts and Reflections

Hollow Fires was an insanely good read. It is probably one of my favorite books that I have read this year with the constant twists and turns! Ahmed does an incredible job portraying islamophobia and the dangers of white supremacy, especially in radical young men, through a page turning thriller. The use of different formats, such as newspapers, interviews, online messages, makes this book seem very real. Additionally, Ahmed pulls on her reader's heart strings by giving Jawad's character a voice, making sure that he is never forgotten. 

After reading Hollow Fires, I want to learn more about ghost skins in place of authority, specifically law enforcement. I'm curious to see what is being done to address white supremacists hiding in positions of power where they could harm the most vulnerable. I also want to learn more about the the real murder from the 1920s about Leopold and Loeb. These topics are equal parts horrifying and interesting to me!