The Night Diary

Starred review from January 15, 2018
After introverted Nisha receives a diary for her 12th birthday, she begins to find her voice as she documents her family’s upheaval amid the 1947 Partition of India. Nisha’s journal entries, which are addressed to her deceased mother, take on new urgency as she witnesses India being “split in half like a log” along religious lines after gaining independence from Britain. As the daughter of a Hindu father and a Muslim mother, Nisha questions which side of the Indian-Pakistani border to call her own. But when her family is no longer safe in their home in the city of Mirpur Khas (which became part of Pakistan), they set out for “the new India.” Hiranandani (The Whole Story of Half a Girl) places Nisha’s coming of age against the violent birth of a nation. 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. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

Starred review from January 1, 2018
In 1947, Nisha's beloved country is being torn apart--and so is her family.Nisha and her twin brother, Amil, celebrate their 12th birthday in their beloved town of Mirpur Khas, India, a month before their country receives independence from the British and splits into India and Pakistan. Painfully shy, Nisha, who lost her mother in childbirth and feels distant from her stern father and her elderly grandmother, is only able to speak freely with the family cook, a Muslim man named Kazi. Although Nisha's mother was Muslim, her family is Hindu, and the riots surrounding Partition soon make it impossible for them to live in their home safely despite their mixed faith. They are forced to leave their town--and Kazi. As Nisha and her family make their way across the brand-new border, Nisha learns about her family history, not to mention her own strength. Hiranandani (The Whole Story of Half a Girl, 2013) compassionately portrays one of the bloodiest periods in world history through diary entries Nisha writes to her deceased mother. Nisha's voice is the right mix of innocence and strength, and her transformation is both believable and heartbreaking. Nisha's unflinching critiques of Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah are particularly refreshing in their honesty.A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults. (Historical fiction. 11-adult)

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February 1, 2018
Grades 5-8 A quiet, sensitive half Hindu, half Muslim girl tries to make sense of her place in a country literally divided during the India Partition in 1947. Twelve-year-old Nisha has always struggled to express herself to her family and schoolmates, so each night she turns to her diary, where she writes entries to her mother, who passed away when she was a baby. Nisha feels the diary helps make the mother she never knew more real, but it also becomes a tool to bring Nisha's own thoughts and feelings into focus as she sorts through confusion, loss, and terror as her family embarks on a dangerous, forced migration from Pakistan to their new home. Hiranandani's prose shines in both emotion and simple, rich description, especially with regards to Nisha's developing love of cooking. This new passion ties her to the beloved Muslim cook her family left behind, and becomes a way for Nisha to connect to her complicated family, fractured past, and homelandold and new. A clear, compelling, and deeply felt historical novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
In 1947 India, the only place half-Hindu, half-Muslim twelve-year-old Nisha feels that she has a voice is her diary. She addresses every entry to Mama, who died when Nisha and her twin brother Amil were born. The diary becomes a lifeline when Nisha's family (considered Hindu) is forced to leave home after the Partition of India, implemented on August 14-15, 1947, suddenly places their city of Mirpur Khas in the newly created Muslim state of Pakistan. Hiranandani has flawlessly rendered a world-altering historical event through the eyes of a sensitive and perceptive child, providing enough detail for readers who may not be familiar with the events while keeping focus on her protagonist's sadness over her mother's death, her struggle with shyness, and her frustration with adults' baffling motives and behavior. Hiranandani doesn't shy away from depicting some truly frightening episodes along Nisha's arduous journey (for example, when she is threatened at knifepoint), but she does so in a voice that is faithfully pitched to an upper-intermediate and middle-school audience. The detailed author's note and glossary will entice young readers already captivated by Hiranandani's pitch-perfect tone to more deeply explore this complicated and bloody period of history. jennifer hubert swan

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2018
Half-Hindu, half-Muslim twelve-year-old Nisha's family is forced to leave home after the Partition of India in 1947 places their city in the newly created Muslim state of Pakistan. Hiranandani flawlessly renders a world-altering historical event through the diary of a perceptive child, providing enough detail for readers who may not be familiar with the history while keeping focus on Nisha's arduous literal and emotional journeys. Glos.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from January 1, 2018

Gr 5-8-Nisha writes to her Muslim mother, who died giving birth to her and her twin brother, Amil, in a diary she receives on their 12th birthday. Through her diary entries, Nisha documents the changes brought about by India's independence from the British. Nisha and Amil live with their Hindu father, paternal grandmother, and the family's Muslim chef, Kazi, and they must flee their city after independence. Hiranandani creates a world full of sensory experiences: "I ate a samosa. I ate it slowly, savoring the crispy outside tingling with the tart green chutney I dipped it in." Readers see the depth of Hiranandani's characters during the family's walk to the border, particularly Nisha's rarely affectionate father who gently cares for her brother and grandmother. Without contrivance, Hiranandani weaves parallels into Nisha's story-Nisha cooking with Kazi and Rashid Uncle, and Rashid Uncle's inability to speak along with Nisha's extreme shyness. She evenly and powerfully communicates the themes of family, faith, humanity, and loss. In the back matter, Hiranandani includes information about how her Indian father's experiences influenced this story and provides a glossary of Indian terms. VERDICT This rich, compelling story, which speaks to the turbulence surrounding India's independence and to the plight of refugees, should be in all libraries serving middle grade readers.-Hilary Writt, Sullivan University, Lexington, KY

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