Veera Hiranandani’s Amil and the After offers a tender yet unflinching portrait of resilience in the wake of historical trauma, ideal for middle-grade readers aged 10–14. Set in 1948 Bombay, this companion novel to The Night Diary follows twelve-year-old Amil, a dyslexic boy grappling with grief, displacement, and the complexities of rebuilding life after his family’s harrowing escape during the Partition of India. While his twin sister, Nisha, processes their shared trauma through writing, Amil channels his emotions into vivid drawings—sketches that serve as both a refuge and a bridge to understanding his fractured world. As the siblings navigate their new reality—a mother lost to illness, a father weighed by survivor’s guilt, and a city straining under postwar tensions—Amil’s artistic voice becomes a quiet but powerful counterpoint to the silence surrounding their past. Hiranandani balances historical gravity with moments of levity, weaving in themes of cultural identity and intergenerational healing without overwhelming younger readers. Hiranandani’s deliberate pacing and accessible prose make this novel particularly effective for classrooms supporting English learners or reluctant readers. Simple, direct sentences (“He drew the sun first, big and round, because it reminded him of her smile”) create rhythmic readability, while black-and-white illustrations of Amil’s sketches—scattered like diary entries—anchor abstract emotions in visual metaphors. These drawings not only mirror Amil’s internal journey but also provide scaffolding for students who benefit from multimodal storytelling. The author introduces Urdu and Hindi terms contextually (e.g., “ayah” for nanny), allowing vocabulary growth without disruption, and avoids idiomatic traps that might confuse language learners. As a Newbery Honor–winning author, Hiranandani brings nuance to difficult themes: Amil’s struggles with reading (portrayed with sensitivity, never stigma) model perseverance, while his bond with Nisha underscores collaboration over competition. For educators seeking historical fiction that humanizes global conflicts while respecting developmental needs, Amil and the After stands out—a story where quiet resilience speaks louder than words, inviting readers to lean into discomfort and emerge with empathy.