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The Night Diary

Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
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.
Includes a bonus PDF with a glossary and acknowledgements
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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      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.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In 1947, political and religious upheaval divided India. Millions of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs crossed the border into what is now Pakistan, fleeing sectarian violence. Narrator Priya Ayyar's Indian accent adds authenticity to this historical story in which Nisha and her Hindu family must leave their home in Pakistan due to the unrest. Ayyar's modulation changes little but fits the reticent Nisha, a girl who struggles with speaking aloud and writes in her diary to her late mother, who was Muslim. However, when the family witnesses atrocities and Nisha reveals her horror in her diary, Ayyar emotes true distress. Ayyar's voice gains some cheerfulness when Nisha's brother recovers from near death and when she makes a Muslim friend while in hiding. A haunting story of a turbulent time. L.T. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:700
  • Text Difficulty:3

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