Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
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based on child development research. How do we rate?
Moving journey through ancient Jewish empire tackles grief.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
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Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 1 parent review
What's the Story?
In BLACK BIRD, BLUE ROAD Ziva is not excited about her 12th birthday party because her twin brother, Pesah, isn't invited. He has an advanced case of leprosy, so advanced that Ziva begins her birthday by cutting off Pesah's gangrenous finger and burying it with a few others in the family cemetery. She will do anything to help her brother and insists on escorting him to the party in his wheelchair. That's where Pesah has a seizure and a vision where he meets the Angel of Death on Rosh Hashanah. Ziva is frantic when she hears this. That's the day her uncle is due in town to take Pesah to a leper colony, which Ziva will not allow. She and Pesah are sure that a bigger city with good doctors will have a cure for him. They just need to get there. So the twins steal away in the night with two horses and a wagon to find a doctor. They don't get far when thieves attack them on a road, and suddenly both Pesah and Ziva are bargaining for their lives.
Is It Any Good?
This moving fantasy-adventure with ancient Jewish roots tackles grief and loss in a fresh landscape with fascinating characters. Ziva is a force of nature. She wants to be a judge like her father and sees death as a great injustice to her brilliant twin who has so much promise. Her drive is relentless to get him the help he needs. It's the only way you believe that she would leave her parents without a backward glance and only a fleeting thought or two that they may be worried sick. It's a good thing Almas arrives when he does to help support her and challenge her in equal measure when Pesah gets sicker, the way to safety becomes harder to find, and the Angel of Death closes in. You feel her desperation with every mile of the arduous journey and feel for the decisions she needs to make in the end. Tissues aplenty will be required.
Black Bird, Blue Road is unique in so many wonderful ways. The setting is both ancient and brand-new, a rarely heard tale about the Jewish empire stretching over the steppes of modern-day Ukraine and Turkey. The melding of the historical with folklore feels natural in this world, especially in one children are forced to navigate by themselves. There are sheydim/trickster demons and shapeshifters all around, and mysterious knowing ravens that bring Pesah many small gifts along the journey. A mystical air always surrounds the story, helped along by the narration that begins each of the four parts. It addresses the reader directly and encourages speculation about what impossible directions the tale will turn next. It's like you're sitting around a campfire, out on the steppes, staring up at the stars, and ready to be transported by a fantastic storyteller. And you will be transported.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about grief in Black Bird, Blue Road. The author's biography says she's a mental health professional. Do you think her background informed how she wrote about something as difficult as grief and loss?
The author used to work in an Intensive Care Unit and jokes about how she's "prone to oversharing gross medical stories." She certainly doesn't shy away from describing what leprosy does to the human body (thank goodness there's a cure now!). How did you handle this amount of detail? Were you interested in the science like the author, or do you wish she'd said much less?
A glossary describes "sheydim" as demons from Jewish folklore that are distinct from other depictions of demons. How are they different? How are sheydim and malachim/angels important to the story? How different would this story be without the supernatural elements?
Book Details
- Author: Sofiya Pasternack
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Cooking and Baking , Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Brothers and Sisters , History , Horses and Farm Animals , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Character Strengths: Courage , Integrity , Perseverance
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Versify
- Publication date: September 20, 2022
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 320
- Available on: Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Award: ALA Best and Notable Books
- Last updated: February 1, 2023
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