The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
As the title suggests this book is written in diary form. This is an effective way to combine historical narrative with a fictional story. It takes place in the mid-1940s when British rule ended in India and the country split into two pieces, Pakistan and India. I had a passing understanding of this time period from high school but this short book more than doubled my understanding. When the new country of Pakistan is formed it is designated as a country for Muslims (a religious minority in the larger country of India) and Muslims living in all parts of India begin migrating there. But some of the people living in this newly outlined area were Hindu or Sikhs (a religion I mistakingly believed was a sect of either Islam or Hinduism whenever I heard the word), those people began the migration in the opposite direction. This resulted in the largest mass migration in history, around 14 million people moving from one country to the other. As often happens when political and religious tensions mix with large groups of people - violence broke out. The author tells us that approximately 1 million people are estimated to have been killed (though no official number exists).
The fictional tale here is that Nisha has just turned twelve and received a diary for a gift. She uses the diary as a means to communicate with her mother who died in childbirth. Her parents were a mixed marriage, her mother was Muslim and her father is Hindi, their families had disapproved of the marriage but they were married in secret anyway. Now Nisha lives with father (a doctor), Dadi (her grandmother), her twin brother Amil, and the families' cook Kazi (a Muslim man). This interesting array of characters allows us to explore many aspects of the time period. I love how this novel touches on so many things in such a natural way - faith, culture, history, conflict (and its effects), learning disabilities, class, friendship, anxiety, and most of all - family. I highly recommend this book to any and all.
The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Basic plot dump - Boy is a hunchbacked goat-herder living in 1300s France. One day he meets a pilgrim named Secundus who is collecting the relics of Saint Peter to bring them to Rome. At first Boy is frightened of Secundus but eventually grows to like him.
Ooooooooh boy. Here was another book was a large Catholic base. (I mean 1350 France and Rome hardly leave many other options besides Catholicism.) I'm beginning to see that blending Catholicism and fantasy is a tricky road to trod - probably any religion,which brings so many questions to books on my shelves. But, in honesty, I think this book came closer to getting it right than The Inquisitor's Tale and The Relic of Perilous Falls, the latter of which was written by a pretty prominent Catholic author. And this book was doing so well at writing what seemed to be an honest attempt at interpretation of the religious fervor that many had - especially concerning relics. A relic is... well here is Bishop Barron to help me out:
What is depicted in the book is when relic veneration (and probably something more akin to worship) was in its heyday. A couple reviews said this was anti-Catholic and I'd say that it is not how relics are meant to be viewed but certainly how (at least in my Church history class) many people did view them. It became such a big problem that there are now Canon Laws regarding the issue. If this had been about as far as the author strayed into religion the book would have rated 5 stars. I'm going to reveal a couple major spoilers that are the reason this book has been knocked down to 4 stars (skip blue text to avoid spoilers)
Boy is not a hunchback, he's an angel. He just doesn't know it and has been living on the manor lands the whole time. Okay, let me share a secret with you - angels are not corporeal! If you are going to go to such lengths to try to depict an accurate setting with Catholic traditions why would you go this route? I'm aware that this is a fairly common trope and angels appear human in several Bible stories, so I'm giving this point some leeway. What I'm not letting slide is the fact that Secundus is trying to complete a quest to get into heaven after 1000 years in Hell. Since the author has chosen to found the beliefs and practices of her characters in Catholicism this falls flat on its face. Catholic belief is that Hell is eternal - there are no take-backs once you realize that your wife and child went to heaven and you'll never see them again. Especially frustrating because Catholics believe in purgatory - which would have fit the story so much better and not fiddled quite so much with doctrine. There was literally a built-in half-way house just waiting to be used.
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
And now for the main event! I absolutely adored this book. I connected with the main character in so many ways. Meg Medina has given us a contemporary character quite unlike any I've read before. In that Merci is contemporary to the this time period. I've seen so many complaints from people saying something to the effect of this book not feeling timeless. With due respect I can't help but wonder just how old the reviewers are making those comments. Just like I might have to give up trying defend the literary merits of graphic novels to people in generations before mine, it may not be worth the fight of saying that just because technology exists in a book that doesn't suddenly take it away from being 'timeless'. I feel like The Hobbit and Holes both qualify as timeless - but I wouldn't for a moment argue that they have the same levels of technology. Yes, children have cell phones, you don't have to like it (generally I don't and this book kind of addresses why), but you should be prepared to acknowledge it and really the book would feel a little phony without them.
However, the real issues addressed in the book are what truly make it timeless. Sixth grade has been a time of tough transitions for time immemorial - if I were to pick any year to completely forget about it would be sixth grade. Bullying, as much as people try, is going to continue to be an issue as long as hormones, low impulse control, and partially developed pre-frontal cortexes are gathered together for several hours each day. Although I can sympathize with Merci's struggles with bullies, I cannot understand why she continues to try to connect and hang out with someone she continually describes as being mean.
While I identified with Merci's struggles being the target of classmates bullying, the subplot that really got me was her family story. As soon as I read the dust jacket I knew how the book was going to play out - not because it was so predictable - but because I lived it. Merci's grandfather is changing, forgetting things, getting lost, and such. Today Alzheimer's disease in the 6th leading cause of death in the US - I have no idea what those statistics were in the last two decades, but I do know that I had not really heard of it or seen it portrayed in media when my grandmother had it. I'm glad that this children's book addresses Alzheimer's because, make no mistake, children are being exposed in real life and books are a great way to learn and connect.
This book had me crying and laughing. It depicted that challenging time of life that everyone goes through around eleven or twelve, and it did so with great poise. The title is so appropriate - even if you don't really realize it until the very end.
So, do I agree with the choice of winner? Absolutely, actually I'd have been happy with either Merci Suárez Changes Gears or The Night Diaries. The Book of Boy was okay, but not quite as good. I do wish Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson and The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis had received Newbery nods. but I do think my favorite book from 2018 did win.
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