To be honest, I have a lot of books that get misplaced. I put them in safe places and well, they are so safe even I can’t find them. But there is always a way to find them. And with Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout that way was the library and interlibrary loan.
A powerful and beautifully done story of family and the horrors of war unfolds across the pages. As it is told via a blackbird, things at times become almost poetic. The bird reminds me of Death in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak with its connection to the characters and how they will interact with them. That smoothness of their voice and their knowledge our protagonists do not know gives us teases and allows us to flow through the various viewpoints. With Song though things are less intense and has less of a “bigger picture” feeling. We are more focused on the two main points of view and how they interconnect.
This is based in historical fact but is a fictionalized account of a family dealing with the devastation war committed against their family. The dual point of view between 1943-1944 and 2011 was clever and though it has been done before (a past and present coming together) it felt fresh. There were small parts that made big impacts on me. Of course, the big parts (the hiding of a set of Jewish siblings, the granddaughter of a woman who has learned she has an unknown past, the Resistance group) are impactful, too, but those small pieces were what helped piece things together and drove the points home.
Maria van Lieshout’s own family history helped inspire things, and those people plus actual history people (the people who inspired the creation of the characters) are talked about at the end of things in a very informative way. In many ways this additional content is its own story and just as interesting as the actual graphic novels theme. And while things can be intense, and content can be mature, I would say at least ages 10 and up could tackle it, but I would start with at least 12-13 to adult.