Wake Now in the Fire by Jarrett Dapier, illustrated by AJ Dungo

• Publisher: Ten Speed
• Publication Date: February 3, 2026
• Reviewed from library copy
• ISBN: 9780593838044

When Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, a graphic novel that shares the atrocities that happened in Iran, gets pulled from classrooms in Chicago Public Schools, the teachers, principals and librarians must comply. Some teachers move their classroom titles to the school libraries to keep them from being destroyed. But it is the students who stand up and rise up to protest them being removed. This graphic novel about a true event that happened in Chicago in 2013 shares the stories of several of the teens who took action when the school district made the decision to remove the title from curriculum. The book shows how students dealing with other events in their lives found community and solace in shared action. 

The author of this work won an award from ALA for his work exposing this story of book censorship. His afterwords about the claims of Chicago Public Schools and what eventually was proven is alone brilliant to read. In the graphic novel, he shows students and teens the power of collaboration, protest and resistance. Throughout he shares how a variety of students can take their own unique form of action and how it all comes together to force changes to be made. The art is dynamic and marvelously modern, almost like art from a protest sign or banner. 

Brilliant, rage-filled and action inducing, this graphic novel is entirely perfect for our time. Appropriate for ages 12+.