Kim Tyo-Dickerson: Thank you so much for speaking with me about Song of a Blackbird for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative’s fifth annual International Young Adult Literature Month! It’s fascinating to learn more about how your family history, and some surprising discoveries in your grandparents’ home in Amsterdam, helped inspire this powerful story, especially the connection to the Dutch resistance during World War II. That hidden past clearly shaped your moving exploration of how art and survival are intertwined.

I’m especially excited to be talking with you today, on May 5, which is Liberation Day in the Netherlands, marking the end of the Nazi occupation in World War II. This theme of liberation is so central to your story, both in the words and the images.I’d love to hear more about the unique publishing journey of Song of a Blackbird in the U.S. and Het lied van de merel in the Netherlands.