Veera Hiranandani, author of the Newbery Honor-winning The Night Diary, earned her MFA in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asia Book Award finalist; and How to Find What You're Not Looking For, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the New York Historical Society Children's History Book Prize. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA Program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Praise for Amil and The After

A Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2024
A School Library Journal Top 10 Audiobook of 2024
A Shelf Awareness 2024 Best Children's Books
2025 Jane Addams Peace Association Children's Book Award Finalist
Children's Book Council (CBC) 2025 Favorites Awards List (Children's favorite, 6th-8th grade)
A Bank Street Best Book of 2025

★ "...a masterpiece of nuance, vulnerability, and emotional complexity. A quietly brilliant, deeply insightful story of living in uncertain times."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Searingly emotional... the fast-paced, multifaceted plot will keep readers engaged while bringing them to a satisfying resolution."--Booklist, starred review

★ "A tender companion to [Hiranandani's] 2019 Newbery Honor-winning The Night Diary... compelling." - Shelf Awareness, starred review

★ "Veera Hiranandani masterfully presents a powerful, unvarnished examination of difficult subject matter while paving the way forward with hope and love." - BookPage, starred review

★ "Hiranandani effortlessly incorporates the tastes, sights, sounds, and history of India in engaging prose...Accessible and engrossing, readers unfamiliar with the historic partition of India and Pakistan will nevertheless readily relate to a boy's yearning for stability in tumultuous times. A first purchase for all middle grade collections." - School Library Journal, starred review

"Masterly... a book about hope, about a boy and his father, both hurt and vulnerable, navigating their traumas and finally surviving -- apart and then together." - New York Times Book Review

"Fans of the previous title will appreciate this compassionate and thoughtful continuation of the family's story, while new readers can experience Amil's account of hope and survivor guilt as a standalone volume. " --- The Horn Book Magazine

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Pub date: 2025-06-03

Length: 272 pages