The Night Diary
Bibliography
Hiranandani, Veera. 2018. THE NIGHT DIARY. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780735228511
Plot Summary
Nisha receives a diary for her birthday where she writes about the events that occur in hers and her family's lives in the year 1947 when India gains their independence from the British. Over the course of a few months, she leaves behind the only home she has ever known and discovers that there is more darkness and strife in the world than she could have imagined. She experiences some scary events, such as being without water, seeing her brother almost die, and watching as men stabbed and shot and killed one another. Nisha learns how to be brave and how to say goodbye and how to take care of people even though she is just a young girl. Veera Hiranandani takes true events that occurred during the independence and split of India and creates a story that will make readers feel sorrow, worry, empathy, and compassion.
Critical Analysis
Veera Hiranandani has written an upsetting, hopeful, tragic and beautiful story that tells the fictional but accurate story of a Indian family during the time that India gained independence from British rule. Hiranandani loosely based the story on her father and his family's experiences when they had to leave behind everything they have ever known to cross the border from what became Pakistan into the new India. And while her own family made it safely across, other families, including the one in this book, greatly struggled and did or almost lost their lives or the lives of loved ones.
We read the story from the point of view of young Nisha, a girl who writes to her dead mother in her diary. Her diary entries are how we view her life and what she and her family go through in just a few months. Nisha's story closely resembles the stories of those that has to relocate to travel either to the new India or to the recently created Pakistan, and we follow Nisha on her difficult and troubling journey. Readers come to sympathize Nisha and her family's plight, and Nisha's childlike curiosity and strength make her a person to admire. Her view of the world, while some would consider naïve, is also very wise, as she questions the constant fighting between the people who were very peaceful before and if people are really so different from one another. These views can align with those of the readers and make her a three dimensional character with many facets.
The settings differ throughout the story, as we start off in Nisha's home. Through her words, we find it to be warm and comforting, and we feel her loss as she packs in away for the move. Out on the road, we see through Nisha the dust and despair, the nothingness that is the wilderness and the readers feel her struggle and fear as her family are surrounded by nothing and without food and water. That comfort and homey feeling returns at her Rashid Uncle's home, where she encounters a new friend in her uncle and the neighbor. The newness of her new home in new India is hesitant, but we see as she grows into it and finds peace.
Nisha's strength and resilience during these times is a lesson for all that have strife and struggles, and how it is okay to have a voice and to not be afraid of the unknown. Many readers can relate to this in many different ways; it doesn't have to be relocation to a new home like for Nisha. As for the style of writing, seeing events through the point of view of a child is always going to be filled with curiosity and wonder, fear and cautiousness, hope and happiness. We see all of this through the writings of Nisha and can feel her numerous emotions through her wise words and wild thoughts.
All of these things come together to create a beautifully written story, one that many can learn from and read to see how other people have lived and struggled and survived, through good and bad, with hope and love.
Review Excerpts
2019 Newberry Honor Book
Horn Book Guide: "Hiranandani flawlessly renders a world-altering historical event through the diary of a perceptive child, providing enough detail for readers who may not be familiar with the history while keeping focus on Nisha's arduous literal and emotional journeys."
Booklist: "Hiranandani’s prose shines in both emotion and simple, rich description, especially with regards to Nisha’s developing love of cooking. This new passion ties her to the beloved Muslim cook her family left behind, and becomes a way for Nisha to connect to her complicated family, fractured past, and homeland—old and new. A clear, compelling, and deeply felt historical novel."
Connections
More by Veera Hiranandani: How to Find What Your Not Looking For
The Whole Story of Half a Girl
The Phoebe G. Green Chapter Book Series
More books written in diary form: House Arrest by K. A. Holt
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Taylor Before and After by Jennie Englund
Activity: Have your student write a diary entry from their point of view about a big event that happened in their lives.
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