Night on Fire is a historical fiction novel that takes readers back to the Civil Rights Movement. Instead of the viewpoint from a revolutionary activist we get to see the world from a young teenager’s eyes. Billie, our main protagonist, doesn’t fully understand racism, but as she experiences small incidents in her everyday life she is starting to see the prejudice against African-Americans. She realizes its wrong, and sees the hate behind people’s actions, but doesn’t know what to do.

After a huge violent outburst in her hometown Billie really starts to question segregation and feels that everyone deserves equal rights. And in doing so she transitions from a naive to a confident person who wants to join the fight for justice and equality.

This novel gives younger readers a somewhat in-depth look at what the Freedom Riders achieved during this era as well as showing why it was so significant to the Civil Rights Movement. I also think it would make good teaching material in a classroom and will encourage readers to do more research on the entire movement.

The book also does a great job of highlighting the events from time period and condensing it in a roughly 300 page space that manages to keep the plot flowing smoothly. While it was based on actual events I felt like I was reading a story rather a history book. This novel keeps the reader engaged while also teaching them about the Civil Rights Movement at the same time.