Days of the Blackbird

This is an Italian folktale about a duke and his daughter. They look forward to listening to the birds sing during the warmer months, but dread the winter days when the birds fly south. One winter, the duke falls ill and is only comforted by the birds' songs during the spring. As the duke's health gets progressively worse, the daughter begs the birds to stay in hopes that will make him better. Only one bird stays - La Columba, a white bird. As La Columba retreats to the warm chimney during the winter, she becomes covered in soot and is renamed La Merla. After the duke regains his health, he declares the last three days in January as "La Giornate della Merla", or "The Day of the Blackbird".

I thought the illustrations were wonderful, but I found the story to be a little boring. I did, however, like that the story taught some Italian words to readers. ( )

Another excellent book from dePaola; an interesting glimpse into Renaissance Italy combined with fairy tale elements. Interesting illustrations in dePaola's usual style with lyrical dialogue and narration. ( )

The tale of the white dove during the coldest days of winter in Italy. ( )

Days of the Blackbird is a great story to use for a genre review of folktales and about family ties. Tomie DePaola creates such a wonderful depiction of the Italian country through his illustration and the traditions through his story. ( )