Title: The Night Diary
Author: Veera Hiranandani
Pages: 258
Finished: March 15, 2019
First Sentence: Dear Mama, I know you know what happened today at 6:00 a.m., twelve years ago.
Summary: Nisha lives with her father, brother, and grandmother in the city of Mirpur Khas. But change is coming. India will be independent from British rule, and with that independence, a new country is formed. Pakistan. A country for the Muslims. And Nisha and her family are Hindu. Nisha writes to her Muslim mother, who died in child birth, about their experience as their life is turned upside down. Suddenly, people begin turning on each other based off their religion. And Nisha and her family must travel to the New India, a journey fraught with danger and ugliness.
Thoughts: Every year, we ready books from the Caudill List at work. The new list just dropped, and I picked this book up primarily because I had recently seen a Doctor Who episode set in the same time frame.
This was sad. I don't know if it'll be as sad for middle schoolers as it was for me, but it was sad. Seeing people go from being friends to being enemies. Watching mob rule. Reading the fear and seeing how it's the same forever and ever. The ending in particular was rough. I think it was supposed to be hopeful, but somehow, there was this deep sadness there that I picked up on. I don't know. I don't know how to recommend this to. It's an important story, but I don't know who to recommend it to.
This was sad. I don't know if it'll be as sad for middle schoolers as it was for me, but it was sad. Seeing people go from being friends to being enemies. Watching mob rule. Reading the fear and seeing how it's the same forever and ever. The ending in particular was rough. I think it was supposed to be hopeful, but somehow, there was this deep sadness there that I picked up on. I don't know. I don't know how to recommend this to. It's an important story, but I don't know who to recommend it to.
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