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The One About the Blackbird

Melanie Florence Matt James

$39.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English
Tundra Books
18 November 2025
A gorgeous picture book about the connections created through music, and how music can reach loved ones with dementia.

A gorgeous picture book about the connections created through music, and how music can reach loved ones with dementia.

A young boy learns to play guitar from his grandfather, and the one about the blackbird is their favorite song. Years later, the boy visits his grandfather, and while his grandfather doesn't recognize him, now grown-up, he does still remember how to hold a guitar.

A beautiful full circle moment ensues when the boy plays his grandfather their favorite song.

The moving text and dynamic, gorgeous art celebrate the connection that music can create between two people and the joy that music, and the shared love of it, can bring at any age.
By:   ,
Imprint:   Tundra Books
Country of Publication:   Canada
Dimensions:   Height: 279mm,  Width: 241mm, 
Weight:   567g
ISBN:   9781774882665
ISBN 10:   1774882663
Pages:   40
Publication Date:  
Recommended Age:   From 4 to 8 years
Audience:   Children/juvenile ,  English as a second language
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

MELANIE FLORENCE is an award-winning writer based in Toronto. She is the author of the picture book Missing Nim m , which won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, the Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award and was a finalist for the First Nation Communities READ award. Her other picture book, Stolen Words, won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, was shortlisted for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and was given a starred review by Kirkus, who listed it as one of the best picture books of 2017 to give readers strength. MATT JAMES has won many awards for his picture books such as the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, the New Mexico Book Award and the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature. The books he has written include Tadpoles; Nice Try, Charlie!; and his author-illustrator debut The Funeral, which was named a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book. He also illustrated When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge; The Stone Thrower by Jael Ealey Richardson; and I'm Afraid, Said the Leaf by Danielle Daniel.

Reviews for The One About the Blackbird

""Mature-enough elementary schoolers should be touched by this understated heart tugger, but readers of any age will appreciate James’ mixed-media art, centered on a couple of long-limbed, tan-skinned guys who share, along with a love of music, unkempt hairstyles across the decades. . . . A hymn to intergenerational ties."" —Kirkus Reviews


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