Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman

Image: Penguin Random House

The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. unabridged e-audiobook. ~9 hours. Narrated by Kathleen Gate and Natalie Soudek. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House, March, 2020. 9780593155653. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. This impressive debut is a historical fiction set in Ukraine and Russia in 1986. The narrative also flashes back to Ukraine during WWII. Contemporary students may or may not be aware of the Chernobyl nuclear accident that gripped the world in 1986. This story focuses on two girls, Valentina and Oksana, who are classmates and whose fathers both work at the power plant. Oksana is physically and emotionally abused by her virulently anti-Semitic father. She in turn bullies Valentina, who is Jewish. Both fathers were working at the plant when the cores melted, killing many and causing acute radiation poisoning to the rest as well as many residents of the town. Blankman vividly portrays the panic of the girls and their mothers as they try to find out the condition of their fathers/ husbands. 

The Russian government tried to cover up/ downplay the disaster. The girls and Valentina's mother attempt to travel by train to Leningrad, Russia but government imposed travel restrictions allow only two tickets. So the girls end up traveling by themselves to the city of Leningrad, where the grandmother Valentina never met will care for them until they can be reunited with their mothers. 

This character-driven story is intricate and layered as well as heartbreaking and infuriating. The flashbacks to WWII were interesting though a bit puzzling until the end. Descriptions of the meltdown aftereffects were incredibly vivid. Actually, many scenes were intensely vivid and evocative. My dislike for Oksana turned to pity as her story unfolded. There is just so much to love about this novel. The new-to-me narrators' performances were perfectly paced. 

I placed this in a "Teen Tuesday" post due to the sophisticated structure and intense themes, though any reader from fifth through eighth grade might appreciate the story. The Blackbird Girls is a wonderful addition to any collection.