Scan barcode
A review by readsewknit
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
4.0
The Night Diary is middle grade historical fiction, set in 1947 India as gained independence from Britain and is being partitioned into India and Pakistan.
Nisha, our 12-year-old narrator, journals to her dead mother as a way to imagine a relationship with the woman she never knew. She is half Muslim and half Hindu, and her family must leave for Pakistan in hopes of escaping widespread violence and starting anew.
I appreciated the author's note at the end, because I'm always curious as to how they gained their inspiration. In this case, the author wanted to understand what it must have been like for her father's family to make this journey.
When I student taught, the students were reading historical fiction, as assigned in their social studies class, to better understand the historical events in Afghanistan, and a title such as this would also help students humanize what can feel like distant, unemotional facts.
Nisha, our 12-year-old narrator, journals to her dead mother as a way to imagine a relationship with the woman she never knew. She is half Muslim and half Hindu, and her family must leave for Pakistan in hopes of escaping widespread violence and starting anew.
I appreciated the author's note at the end, because I'm always curious as to how they gained their inspiration. In this case, the author wanted to understand what it must have been like for her father's family to make this journey.
When I student taught, the students were reading historical fiction, as assigned in their social studies class, to better understand the historical events in Afghanistan, and a title such as this would also help students humanize what can feel like distant, unemotional facts.