THE BLACKBIRD GIRLS by Anne Blankman: A MG Review and Giveaway

 We all have them. Books that stick in our heads after we've read the last page. Maybe it's the characters, the world-building, the settings, or the amazing way the author weaves together the plot. For me, it's all of those plus a story that touches my heart. This, my friends, is my latest favorite read:

Published in 2020 by Penguin Random House, it was off my radar. I've enjoyed Anne's books before so when I thought about connecting with other historical fiction novelists, I looked her up. In 2014 I wanted to give five stars to her debut novel, Prisoner of Night and Fog , and feel the same way about The Blackbird Girls (this link goes to a great interview with Anne). By the way, Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke (Harper Collins, 2015) was also excellent even though I didn't review it on my blog.

REVIEW

Like another historical fiction novel that I admire, REFUGEE by Alan Gratz, The Blackbird Girls has three viewpoints and several different timelines. Anne and Alan both deftly weave together story elements so that the reader is left with the sense of, "Wow--I didn't see that coming!"

The Blackbird Girls opens with the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 in Ukraine. Each of the two main protagonists, Valentina and Oksana,  have fathers who work at the nuclear power plant. Valentina is Jewish and is the victim of much anti-semitism, including taunting from her schoolmate, Oksana. Valentina's family is very afraid of expressing themselves as Jews due to government persecution and don't practice their religion. Oksana's head is full of anti-semitic propaganda she has heard from her father. As the story progresses the reader discovers that her father has poisoned her in other ways too. 

The two families live in the same apartment building but don't have much to do with each other. Although early on it is evident that the girls are enemies and the reader guesses that they will become friends (the beautiful cover shows that), it is not an easy path. Both girls are victims of prejudice and abuse and both have huge walls of distrust towards the other. 

Both of their fathers fall victim to radioactive poisoning after the meltdown in the plant, and their mothers have to quickly figure out how to help their daughters get away from the city. Valentina's mother has an escape route planned for Valentina and when Oksana's mother abandons her, she takes Oksana with them to Leningrad. She wires the only one who she thinks can offer them refuge--her mother who she hasn't seen for years.

Meanwhile, readers meet a third girl, Rifka, who lives in the Soviet Union in 1941. Her story unfolds at the same time as Valentina's and Oksana's. Rifka's mother makes her leave home to protect her from the invading Germans. She battles freezing temperatures and nearly dies before she finds shelter with a family who takes her in.

At this point in reading the book, I thought I understood the connection between the stories: two mothers who made difficult choices for their daughters' survival. 

But I was wrong. Anne Blankman indicates in the acknowledgments that the novel is based on a friend's true story about Chernobyl. She wrote to me about the true elements in the book:

When I was in ninth grade, I met a new classmate who has since become a lifelong friend. Victoria had recently emigrated from Ukraine to my small hometown in upstate New York, and as we became closer, she confided in me that she had survived Chernobyl, the massive nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union in 1986. To keep her safe, her parents made the heartbreaking decision to send their then-six-year-old daughter hundreds of miles away to live with distant relatives in Uzbekistan. 

The reason Victoria had family living so far away? Forty-five years earlier, her hosts had fled from the invading German army with scores of other Ukrainian Jews. They had ended up in Uzbekistan. These two journeys--one to run from enemy soldiers, the other to escape nuclear fallout--haunted me, and they became the inspiration for The Blackbird Girls. But I was afraid the multiple perspectives and separate timelines would prove too complicated and cumbersome for my readers, and I wrote the first draft from only Valentina's point of view. My editor encouraged me to explore Oksana and Rifka's perspectives and to flesh out the 1941 storyline. 

One of my favorite parts of the book is when the girls break through and become friends. They are attending their new school in Leningrad and on the first day, a boy teases Valentina for being Jewish and tells her to go back to Jerusalem and that no one wants her there.

In a surprise move, Oksana intervenes:

     Oksana stood up. "Nobody wants you here. Why don't you shut your mouth?"

     The boy's eyes narrowed. "What did you say to me?"

     A hush fell over the schoolyard. Children stopped playing to stare at Oksana.

     "You heard me." Oksana fisted her hands on her hips. "Leave Valentina alone."

      Valentina couldn't believe her ears. She stayed crouched on the ground, unable to move.

      "I know who you are," the boy said. "You're one of the Chernobylites. My father says you're all contaminated and you'll turn into rabid dogs."

      Oksana shoved her face into the boy's. "He's right. I think I'll take a bite out of you." She clicked her jaws, and the boy jumped back. She shouted, "You'd better run away! Next time I might bite your face!"

.....

      Oksana's face was red. She put her hands to her cheeks. "I can't believe I did that," she whispered.

       Valentina couldn't believe it, either. This couldn't be the same girl who had mocked her at their old school. 

.....

       Slowly, Valentina took the hand Oksana offered. She stood up. She knew she let go of Oksana's hand, but for some reason she didn't.... and while they played big bear's den they held hands the whole time, even though they weren't supposed to. (p. 144-5)

                           

                                             *****

This book is about events that happened forty and eighty years ago--but are as timely today with today's conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. I highly recommend it for use in middle-school classrooms and homeschool curriculums.

GIVEAWAY

Penguin Random House is offering to provide a copy of this book to one fortunate reader. Leave me a comment by January 17 and I'll enter your name. If you share this on social media or are a librarian or educator, I'll enter your name twice. Make sure you leave me your email address in the comment if you are new to my blog. U. S. addresses only. 

Join me and other bloggers on Greg Pattridge's MMGM site on Monday. 

Congratulations:

Kim Aker, a school librarian in Bland, Va won I'M TRYING TO LOVE GERMS.

Who said Middle-Grade books were only for kids?

Uncle Bob's new favorite middle-grade book.
He lived through this history.

THE WALL: Growing Up Behind The Iron Curtain: A Graphic Novel Review

I found THE WALL (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007) by Peter Sís in my library under graphic novels and since it was historical, I thought I'd check it out. It's the size of a picture book (9 x 12) with about the same number of pages you'd find in a picture book. But, don't be mistaken. This book is NOT for little kids. It should be compulsory reading for middle- and high-school students; adults can learn from it too. 

Sís used maps, cartoon caricatures of Russian leaders, timelines, photographs of himself and his drawings, black and white panels with sprinkles of red, journal entries from his diary growing up, and a cartoon style to tell the story of his life behind the Iron Curtain. 

https://i0.wp.com/thispicturebooklife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Screen-Shot-2014-02-26-at-11.39.24-AM.png

Each page tells a different part of his story in a different way. Sís saved full color for the joyous, exciting part of his life in 1968:

https://i0.wp.com/thispicturebooklife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Screen-Shot-2014-02-26-at-11.00.36-AM.png

But besides all of the amazing ways that Sís found to tell and illustrate this story, there's the story itself. Written in the third person, Sís shows what it was like growing up an artist (and teenage free thinker and music lover) in Prague under communist control. 

He writes of himself as a teenager, "He was painting dreams...and then nightmares. The dreams could be kept to himself, but the drawings could be used against him. He stopped drawing and was left with only his dreams. But he had to draw. Sharing the dreams gave him hope."

Not only is this thin book an amazing pictorial tutorial about life during the Cold War and how the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to the collapse of the Communist system, but it shows the pernicious effects of brainwashing--something I plan to tackle in NIGHTMARE IN NUREMBERG.

By the way, the wall came down only a little over thirty years ago. Hard to believe, isn't it?

For more great middle-grade book reviews, make sure you stop by Greg Pattridge's ALWAYS IN THE MIDDLE blog.

ETHEL'S SONG: Ethel Rosenberg's Life in Poems: A Review and Giveaway

 It's interesting to read a book when you know the ending even before you start. I knew the Rosenbergs were killed because they were suspected of spy activity. But I didn't know the events that led up to that tragic conclusion.

Barbara Krasner's choice of writing Ethel's Song (Astra Publishing, 2022) in free verse poetry is perfect. The poems are written in a variety of forms which lends interest and beauty to the book. By the end of the book, I was convinced that Ethel had written the poems herself; Barbara had captured her voice so well.

REVIEW

The book takes the reader from Ethel's ten-year-old self in 1925 to her death in 1953. As I frequently do when I'm reviewing a book written in poetry, I'll let snippets of the poems speak for themselves. 

                    WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GIRL - 1925

Some girls may place their ambitions

in hope chests. But here on Sheriff

Street, here in the tenements

of New Your City's Lower East Side,

we children of immigrants sweep them

under the beds like dust. (p. 9)

                                      *****  

        THE FOUR QUESTIONS REVISITED - 1937

Why does a government allow its people to live in poverty?

      Not all governments allow this. Look at Russia. 

Why can't we just believe in what makes sense to us?

         The Republicans don't make sense.

      The Democrats (sorry, Mr. President) don't make sense.

       The Communist Party matches what I believe in.

Why must there be hate?

      We hate what we don't understand.

       We hate people we don't understand.

Why must there be war?

       I can't answer this one. (p. 57)

Rosenbergs in a park in 1941.
https://www.rfc.org/about-us

                                  INVASION  

......

The fascists are coming.

Only the Communists stand

against them. This is our only chance.

Father Joe, Josef Stalin,

Premier of the Society state,

leader of the Communist Party.

You are out there on your own

to face the enemy. (p. 69)

                    *****

            ONE SONG TO SING- 1944

.....

I want to choose one song to sing

to bring some to laughter, some to tears,

all to recognize nothing good comes from war.

But I don't know what song that would be. (p. 104) 

                CHARISMA

[Julie's] brought Dovey and Ruthie

into his network of people to help the Soviet Union.

 

I prefer to stay out of it.

I don't need a code name other than Mommy. (p. 111)

WE'RE BEING WATCHED

.....

I'm not naive, really, I'm not,

but how could helping

the Soviet Union

defeat Hitler

make us the bad guys?

My brother has done nothing wrong

as far as I know. Expect that he's not that bright.

We have done nothing wrong

as far as I know. (p. 150) 

                                        ***** 

         THEY SAY 

We are Communists

Julius is a spy

Passing vital secrets to the Soviets

Compromising American democracy

Betraying all Americans

Committing

      Treason

       Conspiracy

       Espionage.

The Feds are crazy. (p. 157)

Ethel's poems from prison are simple yet heartbreaking. 

            

            STUBBLE

At home, we use screens to keep out

undesirables--soot, insects, pigeons.

Here when we're allowed to visit,

a screen separates me from Julie.

I can see his stubble, feel his breath,

but I can't touch,

I can't kiss,

I can't hold.

We are in the same place

at the same time. And yet we aren't. (p. 227)

Throughout the trial and appeals, the Rosenbergs pleaded innocent. Unfortunately, Ethel's brother, Dovey, told lies that implicated them both. Years later, Dovey admitted his lie on Sixty Minutes. 

The back matter includes an epilogue in which the story of the Rosenberg's two sons share their journeys. There is also a timeline and extensive bibliography. 

GIVEAWAY

If you want to add this book to your personal or school collection, please leave a comment (with your email address if you are new to my blog). U.S. addresses only. The giveaway ends on May 16 but I am going away for two weeks. I will get the winner her book when I return. If you don't immediately see your post published, be patient. My internet will be spotty and I will see it eventually. Librarians and educators get two chances!

 

DRIVE: A Review and Two Giveaways!

Congratulations to Clara Gillow Clark and Dorothy Price who won the downloadable version of Eyes on the Prize from last week's blog.

The night that I stayed up late to finish reading Joyce Hostetter's fourth book in the Bakers Mountain Stories series, DRIVE (Calkins Creek, 2018), I texted Joyce: "This is going to be a hard book to review. There are too many wonderful things to say about it. Somehow you're able to catch the heart of emotions so well. I'm still crying."

The funny thing is that I almost didn't read the book. I'd read several drafts and thought that I knew the story. Boy, was I wrong!

After all the brainstorming, outlining, and drafting that I'd read, Joyce added layers of characterization, sensory details, and plot points that deepened the story. Having read those earlier drafts, I look back and see how she added flesh to the bones of her story--and I got to see a book develop and grow. 

One other interesting background note. When Joyce was brainstorming DRIVE, I had just given up writing Half-Truths from two points-of-view. I told Joyce of my struggles to make each character act and sound differently from the other. There's no mistake: Joyce pulls this feat off beautifully. This is a story of twin sisters vying to hold onto their sisterhood at a time when they're growing up and apart.

REVIEW 

PROLOGUE- Ellie

Mommy says Ida was born ten whole minutes ahead
   of me
and I spent the first years following after her,
doing what she did
and trying to be as good as she was.

Then, when Daddy came home from war
with hurts we couldn't see
and moods he couldn't predict,
the uncertainty hit Ida hardest of all.
She pulled back like a turtle inside its shell,
slowing down while I sped up.
I soon realized I liked running ahead,
hearing people cheer for me.

But sometimes, it was Ida they'd be bragging on,
And when they did,
I always felt that I was losing.
Life became a competition that one of us had to win.

And I was determined that the winner would be me. (p. 5)

********

Competition. This theme pervades the book as Ellie and Ida prepare to enter their first year of high school. As the reader meets the girls, we see how Ellie thinks she's not as good as Ida and aches for a normal family:

I wanted a father who didn't get frazzled over a bad dream or loud noises. And a mother who wasn't always aching over her husband. I didn't actually want another family; I just needed to not be embarrassed by the one I had. (p.28)

Ida, who describes herself as the quiet one, avoids the spotlight and feels as if Ellie has the drive to succeed but she doesn't. 

...I stared at the red velvet curtain on the stage and thought how I never got to pull it open and shut. It was the only job I ever wanted in any play we ever did. But thanks to being a twin, I almost always had to be out front, doing something cute with Ellie and feeling like a country bumpkin in the shadow of a movie star. (p.29)

I loved seeing the sisters from each other's POV. This is Ida talking about their different reactions to their father:

Ellie wasn't scared of Daddy the way I was. She was more like Ann Fay. Bold. Always acting like there was no mountain so tall she couldn't climb it. No race so fast she couldn't win it. And no daddy so mean she couldn't charm him. (p.42)

In this section, Ellie thinks about taking Latin in school.

Ida wouldn't want me to because then we wouldn't have all our classes together. But that also meant I wouldn't always be compared to her. I could have a class that was all my own. A hard one that she couldn't show me up in.  (P.59)

Ida feels lost and shy in their new school but Arnie, a fellow freshman, reaches out to her. Ellie who is used to being the strong twin, sees Ida with Arnie and suddenly realizes that Ida might not need her anymore. What's worse is that Ellie has a huge crush on Arnie. This conflict leads to more tension and misunderstanding between the sisters. 

Throughout the book the word drive is used in a number of ways. One of the plot threads is Ellie's passion for racing and the Hickory Motor Speedway. Whereas Ida can't stand the noise and grit of the races, Ellie thrives on the excitement and exhilaration of watching the cars zoom around the track. Unfortunately, this love for a thrilling adventure leads to a devastating accident. Without a spoiler, let me simply say that Ida is the only one who can bring Ellie out of the no-man's land of her near-death injury. 

Joyce interlaces history throughout this skillfully written story.  The 1952 presidential election, the threat of communism, and the Korean conflict are all important backdrops to the drama taking place in the little town of Hickory. 

But that's not what made me tear up. Forgiveness, love, character growth, individual accomplishments against high stakes--all of these made me root for both Ida and Ellie, as I'm sure you will too. Although written for the upper middle grade reader, adults will also resonate with the coming-of-age theme interwoven into DRIVE. 

As I told Joyce, I'm a lot like Ellie. I think many of us will see a little bit of ourselves in the two sisters. And isn't that what a great book is about?

*******

EPILOGUE- Ida

After Daddy came home from war
with wounds we couldn't see
and moods he couldn't predict,
I pulled back and let Ellie take the lead.

I didn't mind so much if she wanted to run on past
and steal the show from me.
I didn't need to be seen or heard the way she did.
Art was my voice.

But then in her race to be first
Ellie crashed
and I had to go around her--
to face scary unknowns
and accept good things that came my way.

I think we both learned
that life is not a race with one of us winning
and the other losing.
We can drive on our own separate tracks
without competing.
And when we do
We'll each come out a winner. (p. 342)

GIVEAWAY and AN AUDIOBOOK WISH

Since so many of Joyce's fans read my blog, Boyds Mills Press kindly agreed to give away TWO copies of DRIVE. Leave me a comment by October 11 with your email address if you are new to my blog. If you want additional chances to win, share this on social media or follow my blog and I'll add your name twice to the hat--but make sure you tell me what you did. 

And while I'm on the topic of Boyds Mills Press--who wants the Bakers Mountain Stories to be published in audio format? I think they'd be perfect! If you agree with me, please join me in tweeting @boydsmillspress. 

The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill AND a Giveaway!

Congratulations to Ann Eisenstein, a fellow SCBWI-Carolinas writers, who won an autographed copy of Sheri Levy's novel, Seven Days to Goodbye. Thanks to all of you who entered. Here is another book to try and win!

At a recent SCBWI-Carolinas conference, I took an informative workshop with Emma Dryden on world building. First, Emma instructed us to write three tenets that govern the fictional world and/or society in which our character lives. Second, she asked us to write three tenets that govern our protagonist's personal world. 

As I considered how I would review the most recent book I listened to, The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill, I thought how the historical setting played such an integral role in this story.  Applying what I learned in Emma Dryden's workshop, here are some of the tenets which govern the protagonist's, Hazel Kaplantsy, world: 

First of all, the bigger world in which Hazel lives in is governed by the facts that:

1. In 1954, Communism is a very real threat. 
2. Fall out shelters and air raid drills are necessary.
3. Senator McCarthy has a right to search for spies in Hazel's small New England town of Maple Hill.

Second, these three tenets govern her personal world:

1. Maple Hill is a sleepy, boring town that Hazel will leave as soon she grows up.
2. It's normal to grow up living and playing in a cemetery.
3. Hazel's best friend has just moved away and most probably her next best friend will leave her too.

These tenets are the framework upon which Megan Blakemore has built Hazel's dream of showing the world that she is as good a detective as Nancy Drew.  But while Hazel is always ready to find evidence that supports her pre-formed conclusions, her new friend Samuel is the voice of reason suggesting that she might not always correctly interpret the facts. 

The backdrop of the McCarthy era forms a perfect canvas for this upper elementary book for girls. When Hazel's favorite librarian warns her that it is a dangerous thing when a "whisper becomes a rumor and a rumor becomes a fact" she is speaking truth not only about the McCarthy investigation at a local factory, but also to Hazel herself. Hazel's moment of truth comes when she realizes that her erroneous accusations are just as hurtful as the smashed window in her favorite Chinese restaurant. 

For more information on deep world building, check out Emma Dryden's blog. As a bonus, here are two worksheets on world building from Brenda Windberg of Free Expressions Seminars.

I'm giving away a copy of the audio CD of this entertaining and informative book. To enter, please leave me a comment before 9 AM on Friday, October 24. If you want a second chance, become a new follower or share this on your social media of choice and let me know what you did. Be sure I have your email address too!