Review: Song of a Blackbird

Song of a Blackbird

by Maria Van Lieshout

First Second, 2025

Category: Young Adult

Reviewer: Emily Roth

 

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Told through two distinct storylines, Song of a Blackbird proves that there are endless unique stories to tell about the Holocaust. In 1943, a young student named Emma agrees to join the Dutch resistance movement to help save Jewish children, and soon discovers that her artistic abilities could be key to saving numerous lives – despite endangering her own. Meanwhile, in 2011, Annick’s determination to help her beloved grandmother find a bone marrow donor leads her to discover a startling family secret, and join an artistic revolution of her own. A blackbird symbolizing hope and strength in difficult circumstances soars back and forth between the two stories, connecting them in an unexpected way. Although the stories here are fiction, they are inspired by real people and events.

The art in this graphic novel is striking and unique. The illustrations, in a palette of white, black, red, orange, and green-grey, evoke block prints. This holds double meaning, as Annick’s grandmother owns four prints that each hold a piece of the puzzle connecting her to her past. Real photographs appear throughout the book with illustrations over the top, reminding the reader that many of the places and historical events referenced here really happened.

Song of a Blackbird tells a vital and authentic story about Judaism, even though neither protagonist is Jewish. Although readers may be familiar with the horrors of the Holocaust, they will likely find new details here about the specific experience of Jews in Amsterdam who were confronted with forced deportations, a number of whom made the heartbreaking decision to allow their children to be smuggled into the homes of non-Jews in the hope of survival. Undoubtedly, readers will also come away from this book with new knowledge about the various ways that Dutch citizens took resistance into their own hands, such as forging counterfeit ration cards to make sure that food was accessible to those in need. Annick’s modern storyline also shows the timeless power of art to inspire change. Both Jewish and non-Jewish readers will likely connect to this book and learn something from it.

Readers who feel troubled by today’s political climate may find inspiration to create change of their own in Song of a Blackbird.

 

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Reviewer Emily Roth is a Teen Services Librarian at Chicago Public Library.