# The One About the Blackbird

**Author:** Melanie Florence
**Grade range:** Grades 2–3
**Page count:** 35
**Genre:** Juvenile Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9781774882665`
**ISBN-10:** `1774882663`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-one-about-the-blackbird
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

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.

## Where this book is assigned

### Great Lakes Great Books Award

- **recommended** · 2nd grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award 2026-27 nominee (official GLGBA nominee press release + nominees list, announced March 7, 2026 at the MRA Annual Conference; Michigan students vote through January 9, 2027) — 2-3 division](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 3rd grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award 2026-27 nominee (official GLGBA nominee press release + nominees list, announced March 7, 2026 at the MRA Annual Conference; Michigan students vote through January 9, 2027) — 2-3 division](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/the-one-about-the-blackbird._