Skip to main content
The Night Diary

The Night Diary

Current price: $12.99
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2019
Publisher:
Thorndike Press Large Print
ISBN:
9781432866617
Pages:
0

The Night Diary is a beautifully written and intimate story about the Partition of India. Nisha's letters carefully explore the changes in herself and her family through one of history's biggest forced displacements. Veera Hiranandani's writing and characterization make this intense (and often overlooked) historical atrocity accessible to young readers. Nisha's longing for her mother and search for personal identity in the midst of political struggle are also universal and timely subjects for our contemporary world. A gorgeous book that readers will fall into from the first page.

Johanna Albrecht, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC
Spring 2018 Kids’ Indie Next List

Description

"A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK

*A Walter Dean Myers Honor Winner *An ALA Notable Book *A Malka Penn Award Recipient *A New York Times Editor's Choice Pick *A Junior Library Guild Selection *Named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, NPR, School Library Journal, and The Washington Post.

""A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults.""

-Kirkus, starred review


In the vein of Inside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India's partition, and of one girl's journey to find a new home in a divided country


It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.


Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together.


Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future. "