The Blackbird Girls
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The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
NATIONAL JEWISH BOK AWARD WINERA SYDNEY TAYLOR MIDLE GRADE HONOR BOK Like Ruta Sepetys for middle grade, Anne Blankman pens a poignant and timeless story of friendship that twines together moments in underexplored history. On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person. Oksana must face the lies her parents told her all her life. Valentina must keep her grandmother's secret, one that could put all their lives in danger. And both of them discover something they've wished for: a best friend. But how far would you go to save your best friend's life? Would you risk your own? Told in alternating perspectives among three girls--Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941--this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship.
Anne Blankman is the acclaimed author of Prisoner of Night and Fog, which received a starred review and a Flying Start from Publishers Weekly. When Anne was twelve, she read Anne Frank's diary and has been haunted by World War II ever since. The idea for Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke came to her after she read about a real-life unsolved street assassination from January 1933, which was the inspiration for Monika Junge's murder. To research this book, she studied a wide range of sources, including biographies, memoirs, social histories, psychological profiles, old maps, photographs, and video footage.
Anne lives in southeastern Virginia with her husband, Mike, her young daughter, Kirsten, and, of course, lots and lots of books.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781984837356 |
| ISBN 10 | 1984837354 |
| Title | The Blackbird Girls |
| Author | Anne Blankman |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Penguin USA |
| Year published | 2020-03-10 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Prizes | Winner of National Jewish Book Award 2020 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |