Tag Archives: Amsterdam

Review: Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , ,
Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

Song of a Blackbird
Maria van Lieshout
First Second
Published January 21, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Song of a Blackbird

Fictionalized but based on true events, Song of a Blackbird has two intertwined timelines: one is a modern-day family drama, the other a thrilling tale of a WWII-era bank heist carried out by Dutch resistance fighters.

In the present day, teenage Annick is desperate to find a bone marrow donor that could save the life of her grandmother, Johanna. She turns to her family history and discovers a photograph taken by Emma Bergsma.

Decades earlier, Emma is a young art student about to be drawn into what will become the biggest bank heist in European history: swapping 50 Million Guilders’ worth of forged bank notes for real ones―right under the noses of the Nazis! Emma’s life―and the lives of thousands, including a young woman named Johanna―hangs in the balance.

In this stranger-than-fiction graphic novel, Maria van Lieshout weaves a tale about family, courage, and the power of art. Deeply personal yet universal, Song of a Blackbird sheds light on an untold WWII story and sends a powerful message about compassion and resistance.

My Review

I love that the narrator of the book is a blackbird representing the spirit of resilience and the power of compassion. The scenes alternate between two timelines: 1943 and 2011. In 1943, we follow Emma, a young woman who has just joined the Dutch resistance and agrees to help hide Jewish children scheduled for deportation. She winds up helping print forged ration cards and bank certificates as part of a heist plot.

In 2011, we follow a teenage girl whose grandmother has just learned she was one of the children hidden in Amsterdam and adopted by a non-Jewish family. Oma has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant, which makes it crucial that Annick, her granddaughter, help to track down her biological family.

Annick follows clues in a series of prints on her grandmother’s walls. Each section of the book begins with one of those prints and shows Annick’s research, as well as Emma, the artist who created the prints, and her work to hide Annick’s grandmother aid the resistance movement.

The use of the prints and the presence of artists in both time periods emphasize the importance of art as resistance and the powerful impact it has on its creator and viewers. Emma’s prints tell the story of her work, ensuring that history isn’t forgotten.

The illustrations are in grayscale except for a reddish-orange color. I love the way the author uses that orange to draw attention to certain elements. It also reminds me of sunrise, which made the color seem like a symbol of hope and resistance in and of itself.

The back of the book has some historical notes about each person who inspired characters in this graphic novel. Photographs of each person appear there, but Lieshout has also strategically placed photographs throughout the scenes of the book.

Concusion

I’m really blown away by how powerful this story is. I wasn’t sure I’d like the bird narration, but I really ended up loving it. The notes that piece together the truths that inspired the story are such a great addition. This is a story I’m not going to forget.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Allusion to the attraction between two people. One panel shows two teenagers kissing.

Spiritual Content
A priest helps hide several Jewish boys in his church.

Violent Content
References to deportations and rumors of execution at concentration camps. Mass arrests. Resistance workers know they can be arrested and interrogated or tortured. A man temporarily escapes soldiers, but has a gunshot wound that leaves his legs paralyzed. One scene shows a group of men (resistance members) executed by firing squad.

Drug Content
Panels show adults smoking and drinking alcohol in some scenes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation
Rosemary Sullivan
Harper Perennial
Published January 17, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Betrayal of Anne Frank

Using new technology, recently discovered documents and sophisticated investigative techniques, an international team—led by an obsessed former FBI agent—has finally solved the mystery that has haunted generations since World War II: Who betrayed Anne Frank and her family? And why?

More than thirty million people have read The Diary of a Young Girl, the journal teen-aged Anne Frank kept while living in an attic with her family in Amsterdam during World War II, until the Nazis arrested them and sent Anne to her death in a concentration camp. But despite the many works—journalism, books, plays and novels—devoted to Anne’s story, none has ever conclusively explained how the Franks and four other people managed to live in hiding undetected for over two years—and who or what finally brought the Nazis to their door.

With painstaking care, former FBI agent Vincent Pankoke and a team of indefatigable investigators pored over tens of thousands of pages of documents—some never-before-seen—and interviewed scores of descendants of people involved, both Nazi sympathizers and resisters, familiar with the Franks. Utilizing methods developed by the FBI, the Cold Case Team painstakingly pieced together the months leading to the  Franks’ arrest—and came to a shocking conclusion. 

The Betrayal of Anne Frank is their riveting story. Rosemary Sullivan introduces us to the investigators, explains the behavior of both the captives and their captors and profiles a group of suspects. All the while, she vividly brings to life wartime Amsterdam: a place where no matter how wealthy, educated, or careful you were, you never knew whom you could trust. 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today, January 27, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. While it’s important to listen and learn about the Holocaust and the events that led to those horrors throughout the year, this is a day we designate to specifically pause and remember.

My Review of The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation

This incredible book blew me away. Initially, I listened to the audiobook, but I needed to read passages in the ebook version alongside the audio version because there was so much compelling information presented. I sometimes read ahead in the ebook and then listened to the audiobook, too. I found having both helped me grasp the content.

Sullivan does a great job laying out the cold case investigation with orderliness and precision. She also orients readers to the importance of the quest by offering context about the Netherlands in the 1930s and 1940s as well as information about the Frank family and Otto Frank’s life after the war.

Some of the things the author describes are genuinely heartbreaking. The one that hit me the hardest was the description of how Anne Frank’s diary comes into her father’s possession. Another thing that struck me was the way that the people hiding the eight people in the annex lived during the war and the constant danger they risked.

If you enjoy nonfiction about World War II or cold case stories, I can’t recommend this one enough.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Very brief mention of Anne’s relationship with Peter van Pels. One of the possible betrayers was a woman known to have romantic relationships with Nazi officers.

Spiritual Content
References to Judaism.

Violent Content
References to deaths caused by World War II and concentration camps. References to antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.