Blackbird Fly - Hardcover

by Erin Entrada Kelly (Author), Betsy Peterschmidt (Illustrator)

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.

Front Jacket

Twelve-year-old Apple Yengko believes that there are at least three interesting facts about every person on Earth. Unfortunately, her three IFs make her an outcast in Chapel Spring Middle School in Chapel Spring, Louisiana:

• She has slanted eyes
• She has a weird Filipino nickname
• . . . and a weird mother

When Apple is voted the third-ugliest girl in school, her life quickly falls apart. The boys bark at her in the halls and a rumor spreads that she eats dogs for dinner. Music is her only escape. All she needs is enough money to buy a guitar, and then she'll be able to change herself and her life forever. So what if her mother doesn't understand and thinks she's becoming too American? So what if her supposed best friends turn the other way . . .

It might be the Beatles and their music who save Apple, or Mr. Z (Chapel Spring Middle's awesome music teacher)--or it could be two unexpected friends who show her that standing out in a crowd is better than getting lost in it.​

--Los Angeles Times Book Review

Back Jacket

Twelve-year-old Apple Yengko believes that there are at least three interesting facts about every person on Earth. Unfortunately, her three IFs make her an outcast in Chapel Spring Middle School in Chapel Spring, Louisiana:

• She has slanted eyes
• She has a weird Filipino nickname
• . . . and a weird mother

When Apple is voted the third-ugliest girl in school, her life quickly falls apart. The boys bark at her in the halls and a rumor spreads that she eats dogs for dinner. Music is her only escape. All she needs is enough money to buy a guitar, and then she'll be able to change herself and her life forever. So what if her mother doesn't understand and thinks she's becoming too American? So what if her supposed best friends turn the other way . . .

It might be the Beatles and their music who save Apple, or Mr. Z (Chapel Spring Middle's awesome music teacher)--or it could be two unexpected friends who show her that standing out in a crowd is better than getting lost in it.​