A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK
"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.