A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK"A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults."
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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 countryIt'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.
On sale: April 23, 2019
Age: 8-12 years
Grade: Grades 3-7
Page count: 304 Pages
ISBN: 9780735228528
Reading level: Lexile: 700L | Fountas/Pinnell: Y
Veera Hiranandani, author of the Newbery Honor–winning
The Night Diary, earned her MFA in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of
The Whole Story of Half a Girl, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asia Book Award finalist, and
How to Find What You're Not Looking For, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the New York Historical Society Children's History Book Prize. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA Program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Praise for The Night Diary By Veera Hiranandani
John Newberry Honor, 2019
2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Award
2018 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children's Literature[TN1]
A New York Times Editor's Choice Pick
Georgia Children’s Book Award 2019-2020 Nominee
Camellia Children's Choice Book Award Nominee ALABAMA 2021-2022
Malka Penn Book Award Winner CONNECTICUT 2018
Nutmeg Book Award CONNECTICUT Nominee 2021
Georgia Children's Book Award GEORGIA Nominee 2019-2020
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award ILLINOIS Master List 2020
Young Hoosier Book Award INDIANA Nominee 2020-2021
William Allen White Children's Book Award KANSAS Reading List 2020-2021
Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award LOUISIANA Nominee 2020-2021
Maine Student Book Award 2019-2020 Master List
Massachusetts Children's Book Award MASSACHUSETTS Nominee 2020-2021
Great Lakes Great Books MICHIGAN Nominee 2020-2021
Mark Twain Readers Award MISSOURI Nominee 2020-2021
Great Stone Face Book Award NEW HAMPSHIRE Nominee 2019-2020
Garden State Book Award NEW JERSEY Nominee 2021
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (ORCA) OREGON Nominee 2021
Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award PENNSYLVANIA Nominee 2020-2021
South Carolina Book Awards SOUTH CAROLINA Nominee 2020-2021
Volunteer State Book Award TENNESSEE Nominee 2020-2021
Lone Star Reading List TEXAS Reading List 2019
Beehive Book Award UTAH Nominee 2020
Just One More Page! WISCONSIN Reading List 2019
ILA 2019 Teachers’ Choices Reading List
2019 Jane Addams Honor Book in the Books for Older Children Category
A Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews
A Best Book of the Year by The New York Times
A Best Book of the Year by NPR
A Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal
A Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post
Junior Library Guild Selection
2019 ALSC Notable Children's Books
2019 Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens
CCBC Choices 2019 Choice: Fiction for Children
“Veera Hiranandani is a master storyteller. This riveting and important book speaks to the power of love in a world divided by hate and raises questions that still need to be asked seventy years after its events took place. Nisha and her story are a part of me now. My question is how do we make this a ‘community read’ for the whole world?”—James Howe, author of
The Misfits “Nisha's sweet, sheltered world disappears overnight when her country splits in two—now Hindus must live in India, Muslims in Pakistan. But Nisha's both. Where can her family be safe? Hiranandani's story is set in an historical time little known to American children, but she tells it in a way that makes it accessible, timely, interesting and real."—Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, author of Newbery Honor–winning
The War That Saved My Life “Veera Hiranandani’s storytelling is exquisite and compelling. For Nisha, like so many of us, home is a complicated place and this heartbreaking and hopeful novel reminds us that even in places where there is great loss and strife, there is deep joy, renewed faith.
The Night Diary is a treasure for young readers who are searching for their place in the world, who are determined to bring home with them wherever they go.”—Renée Watson,
Piecing Me Together* "Believable and heartbreaking...A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults."—
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "This rich, compelling story, which speaks to the turbulence surrounding India’s independence and to the plight of refugees, should be in all libraries."—
School Library Journal, starred review
* "The diary format gives her story striking intimacy and immediacy, serving as a window into a fraught historical moment as Nisha grapples with issues of identity and the search for a home that remain quite timely."—
Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Hiranandani’s prose shines in both emotion and simple, rich description...A clear, compelling, and deeply felt historical novel."—
Booklist, starred review
