The Night Diary

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

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 freed from British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. Many people are killed crossing borders as tensions among Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and others flare. Nisha, who has always carried two parts in her: Muslim and Hindu, doesn’t know which side she has to be on or why she must choose.

Nisha has already lost her mother. She can’t imagine losing her homeland, too. But Papa says it’s too dangerous for them to stay in Pakistan. And so Nisha and her family become refugees and embark on a treacherous journey by train and by foot to reach their new home on the other side of the border.

Told through letters Nisha writes to her mother in her journal, The Night Diary is a poignant story of the largest human migration in history and of one girl’s search for home, her own identity, and a hopeful future.