THE NIGHT DIARY by Veera Hiranandani

Historical Fiction, Diaries Fiction, Refugees, Multicultural
264 pages

From the Publisher (Dial Books for Young Readers)

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 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.

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 but 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.

Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.

 My Comments

Hiranandani succeeds in portraying the tragic effects of prejudice and ethnic conflict through the eyes of a young girl. An important topic.

BOB by Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead

Fantasy, Friendship, Trust, Grandmothers, Families
201 pages
Starred Reviews

Illustrated by Nicholas Gannon

From the Publisher (Feiwell & Friends-MacMillan)

"It's been five years since Livy and her family have visited Livy's grandmother in Australia. Now that she's back, Livy has the feeling she's forgotten something really, really important about Gran's house.

It turns out she's right.

Bob, a short, greenish creature dressed in a chicken suit, didn't forget Livy, or her promise. He's been waiting five years for her to come back, hiding in a closet like she told him to. He can't remember who--or what--he is, where he came from, or if he even has a family. But five years ago Livy promised she would help him find his way back home. Now it's time to keep that promise.

Clue by clue, Livy and Bob will unravel the mystery of where Bob comes from, and discover the kind of magic that lasts forever."

Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, two masterminds of classic, middle-grade fiction come together to craft this magical story about the enduring power of friendship.

My Comments
This is a sweet story that tugs at your heart. It's also a page turner! Who is Bob? It all comes together at the end, but you have to read it to find out! Five stars. Grades 3-6

FORGOTTEN FIRE by Adam Bagdarsarian

Armenia History, World War II Atrocities, Historical Fiction

Eleanor Schuster - highly recommended
Horn Book Magazine (November/December, 2000)"Forgotten Fire is a vividly, even horrifically, evoked novel about the genocide carried out against Armenians in Turkey during World War I. Like narrator Vahan Kenderian, who is twelve when the novel begins, a reader can't really prepare for this relentless tragedy before it unfolds. The son of a prominent Armenian lawyer, Vahan carries himself with "the confidence of a boy who has grown up in luxury and knows that he will always be comfortable, always well fed, always warm in winter and cool in summer." His innocence reaches a swift and brutal end. In chilling succession, his father is taken away and presumably killed; his two older brothers are shot dead in their backyard while the rest of the family watches; his older sister swallows fatal poison to avoid being raped by Turkish soldiers; and, most graphic of all, his grandmother is smashed in the head with a rock, then run through with a bayonet while she kneels to drink from a river choked with Armenian corpses. Bagdasarian pulls readers into these and numerous other wrenching scenes with the same photographic detail he uses to shape a fleeting glimpse of peacetime Bitlis, Vahan's beloved hometown in the mountains, and it is hard to turn away from his intense prose even when you feel you can no longer bear it. That the book is based on Bagdasarian's great-uncle's experiences gives it further gravity."

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MORE CHALLENGING CHOICES

An Every Growing List!

KNOW YOUR READER!
Caveat: Always preview books to see if they are appropriate for your reader.

For outside links to reading lists:

https://sites.google.com/a/eufsdk12.org/eastchester-middle-high-school-reading/book-lover-lists

Please make sure to check out nonfiction books listed below.

BEFORE YOU DESPAIR, CHECK OUT THESE POPULAR MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOICES

How Oscar Indigo Broke the Universe and Put it Back

By David Teague

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-oscar-indigo-broke-universe-and-put.html

Nancy Farmer - Sea of Trolls and her other books

https://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/trolls-trilogy.html

The Ranger’s Apprentice

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-rangers-apprentice-ruins-of-gorlan.html

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (also on audio) Page turner! (for those who love Rick Riordan books)

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-alchemyst-by-michael-scott.html

FABULOUS FANTASY BOOKS
http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/fabulous-fantasy-books.html

SCIENCE FICTION

• House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (pair this with Cells Up Close by Maria Nelson)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other Jules Verne books
• James Dashner books: The Eye of Minds (series) and others
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• The Hunger Games
• Legend by Marie Lu
• The Testing by Charbonneau
• Foundation by Isaac Asimov (difficult)

MYSTERY

• The Mysterious Benedict Society

FANTASY

• The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials) by Philip PullmanThe Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan (not high level but good through grade 8 for interest)

HISTORICAL FICTION

• Refugee by Alan Gratz
• Forgotten Fire by David Bagdasarian
• Countdown by Deborah Wiles
• Johnny Tremain
• The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Old Yeller
• The Sounder
• The Yearling
• Where the Red Fern Grows

ANIMAL FICTION

• Redwall (wonderful! Available on audio)
• The Incredible Journey
• Watership Down

NONFICTION

• Phillip Hoose
• The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
• Moonbird and others
• Steve Sheinkin
• Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
• Marc Aronson
• Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies  (Pair this with Bomb by Sheinkin)
• If Stones Could Speak

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/aronson

Author, editor, publisher, and speaker Marc Aronson believes passionately in the power of great nonfiction — in building background knowledge, nourishing children's interest in the real world, and helping young people become critical readers and thinkers. He has written history and biography books for middle school children and young adults, including books about the secrets of Stonehenge, the sugar trade (Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science), and the life of John Henry (Ain't Nothing but a Man). His biography of Sir Walter Raleigh (Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado won the ALA's first Robert L. Sibert Information Book Award for nonfiction and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

You can watch the interview below, view the interview transcript, read a short biography of Marc Aronson, or see a selected list of his children's books.

(This video is also available on YouTube and iTunes.)

For an extended interview with Aronson and a list of his YA books, visit our sister site, AdLit.org.