Night Diary

<b>NEWBERY HONOR BOOK - 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. <p/>[<i>The Night Diary </i>is] a sensitive portrayal of the universal search for identity and the need for a place to call home. Beautifully written it weaves terror family and faith into a timeless account of courage and strength.--Laurie Halse Anderson <i>The New York Times</i> <p/>A gripping nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults.--<i>Kirkus Reviews</i> (One of the Best Middle Grade Books of the Century)<br></b><br>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. <p/>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 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. <p/>Told through Nisha's letters to her mother <i>The Night Diary</i> is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.<b><br></b>