Blackbird Fly

Written by Erin Entrada Kelly

Narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano

Future rock star or friendless misfit? That’s no choice at all. In this acclaimed novel by Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly, twelve-year-old Apple grapples with being different; with friends and backstabbers; and with following her dreams.

Publishers Weekly called Blackbird Fly “a true triumph,” and the Los Angeles Times Book Review said, “Apple soars like the eponymous blackbird of her favorite Beatles song.”

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. She and her mother moved to Louisiana from the Philippines when she was little, and her mother still cooks Filipino foods and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” When Apple’s friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show her how special she really is.

Erin Entrada Kelly deftly brings Apple’s conflicted emotions to the page in her debut novel about family, friendship, popularity, and going your own way. “A must-read for those kids cringing at their own identities.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063061675

Erin Entrada Kelly

Erin Entrada Kelly is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning novels Hello, Universe and The First State of Being, which was also named a finalist for the National Book Award. She received a Newbery Honor for her acclaimed novel We Dream of Space. Erin Entrada Kelly grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware. She teaches in the MFA in writing for children and young adults program at Hamline University. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Fiction and the Pushcart Prize. Before becoming a children’s author, Erin Entrada Kelly worked as a journalist and magazine editor and received numerous awards for community service journalism, feature writing, and editing from the Louisiana Press Association and the Associated Press. Erin Entrada Kelly’s debut novel, Blackbird Fly, was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, an ALSC Notable Book, and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book. She is also the author of The Land of Forgotten Girls, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; You Go First, an Indie Next Pick; Lalani of the Distant Sea, an Indie Next Pick; Those Kids from Fawn Creek, named to numerous best-of-the-year lists; and five popular novels for younger readers, Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey, Surely Surely Marisol Rainey, Only Only Marisol Rainey, Your Turn Marisol Rainey, and Felix Powell, Boy Dog, which she also illustrated. Erin Entrada Kelly’s acclaimed nonfiction debut, At Last She Stood, tells the sweeping story of Filipino World War II guerrilla fighter Josefina Guerrero.

Reviews for Blackbird Fly

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of middle schooler Apple Yengko. She and her mother emigrated from the Philippines after her father's death when Apple was four. She is the only Filipino in her Southern Louisiana middle school. And middle school is one of her main problems. Middle school can often be a time of casual cruelty when every kid wants to be just like all the other kids and every kid is sure that everyone is watching them all the time. It can be especially cruel if a kid is outside of the norm in some way. Apple's best friend Alyssa has bought into the myth and is determined to have a boyfriend and be one of the popular crowd. When Apple finds herself on the Dog List - the list of the ugliest girls in school - Alyssa dumps her in a very cruel manner. Apple wants to be a musician. She is a huge fan of the Beatles and wants to play the guitar like George Harrison. However, her mother refuses to get her a guitar and wants her to concentrate on her schoolwork and getting a good education. Americanized Apple is sometimes embarrassed by her mother who still speaks with an accent, still cooks Filipino foods, and still spouts her Filipino values. Apple's attitude starts to change when she meets a new boy in school from California named Evan Temple. Evan isn't swept up in the middle grade desire to be life everyone else. He accepts her just like she is and doesn't want her to change. Well, except maybe, to stop letting the crowd influence her. Apple also gets a chance to get to know another girl on the Dog List. Helena has been hiding the fact that she has an amazing voice. I felt all of Apple's pain as she tried to make a place for herself in her middle school. I also felt a lot of happiness when I saw her deciding to stop letting the crowd set her value.Middle graders - misfits or not - will see a lot they recognize in Apple's story.

[Jackie Bethke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like that at first she was friends with such a boring person even though eventually she stopped being friends with her it was mean to stop being friends with her but she made that were real friends

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great power-though, it won't always be middle school, kind of book. The specific sorts of bullying were hard for me (dog log, hot lot lists), but watching Apple find her way was great. Hopeful at the end. Filipino immigrant family, single mom, main character in 6th grade, all about the Beatles, man. I appreciate that Apple starts on the bullying/silent witness side, so that she can recognize the behavior in herself, as well as respond when it's turned against her.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

children's fiction. middle-grade novel (Apple is in 6th grade): school outcast because of perceived ethnicity, friends turning against each other because of middle school pressures/struggle for popularity, bullying, self-acceptance and perseverence. Incidentally, Apple is also part of a single parent family (dead dad; mom won't talk about it). She also loves the Beatles and teaches herself to play the guitar (despite not owning one). The first part of the book was middle school kids being horrible to each other; the second half (in which Apple starts actually sticking up for folks) is better--easily read in one sitting.

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of middle schooler Apple Yengko. She and her mother emigrated from the Philippines after her father's death when Apple was four. She is the only Filipino in her Southern Louisiana middle school. And middle school is one of her main problems. Apple is different due to her nationality and her name is a bit unusual. Because Apple is Asian the unkind middle school kids call her dog eater. Don't all Asians eat dogs they claim?

Middle school can often be a time of casual cruelty when every kid wants to be just like all the other kids and every kid is sure that everyone is watching them all the time. It can be especially cruel if a kid is outside of the norm in some way. Apple's best friend Alyssa is determined to have a boyfriend and be one of the popular crowd. Unfortunately this does not go well with having Apple for a best friend. The school has an unwritten list for girls, The Dog List. When Apple finds herself on the Dog List - the list of the ugliest girls in school - Alyssa dumps her in a very cruel manner.

Apple wants to be a musician. She is a huge fan of the Beatles and wants to play the guitar like George Harrison. However, her mother refuses to get her a guitar and wants her to concentrate on her schoolwork and getting a good education. Americanized Apple is sometimes embarrassed by her mother who still speaks with an accent, still cooks Filipino foods, and still spouts her Filipino values.

Apple's attitude starts to change when she meets a new boy in school from California named Evan Temple. Evan isn't swept up in the middle grade desire to be life everyone else. He accepts her just like she is and doesn't want her to change. Well, except maybe, to stop letting the crowd influence her. Apple also gets a chance to get to know another girl on the Dog List. Helena has been hiding the fact that she has an amazing voice.

Apple's attitude starts to change when she meets a new boy in school from California named Evan Temple. Evan isn't swept up in the middle grade desire to be like everyone else. He accepts her just like she is and doesn't want her to change. He recognizes her as Filipino and respects her and her mother for remaining loyal to their hertage. Apple also gets a chance to get to know another girl on the Dog List. Helena has been hiding the fact that she has an amazing voice. Helena is a shy overweight girl with no friends. She is called hurtful names and even Apple has at one point joined in on this meanness.

As you read you will feel Apple's pain as she tried to make a place for herself in her middle school. You'll experience happiness when You see Apple finding the courage to stop letting the crowd set her values.

[mal2012-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

middle school, mean girls, music