Why read The Blackbird Girls?

Book cover of The Blackbird Girls

Book description

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…

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Historical fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Blackbird Girls as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Shirley Vernick

Author

I’ve read many nonfiction pieces about the Chernobyl nuclear power explosion, but nothing comes close to the emotional impact of watching these two fictional fifth-graders live through the devastation and evacuation that ensued.

I cried and then cheered as these girls, who were initially separated by religious discrimination, built a friendship in the face of mutual tragedy.

I love a story that is both uplifting and heartbreaking, and this book is a shining example.

From Shirley's list on MG/YA fiction books based on true events.