Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Blackbird Fly
    Blackbird Fly
    Blackbird Fly
    Audiobook5 hours

    Blackbird Fly

    Written by Erin Entrada Kelly

    Narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 9, 2021
    ISBN9780063061675
    Author

    Erin Entrada Kelly

    Erin Entrada Kelly was awarded the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space. She grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware. She is a professor of children’s literature in the graduate fiction and publishing programs at Rosemont College, where she earned her MFA, and is on the faculty 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 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, a School Library Journal Best Book, an ALSC Notable Book, and an Asian/Pacific American 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, a Spring 2018 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 three acclaimed novels for younger readers, Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey, Surely Surely Marisol Rainey, and Only Only Marisol Rainey, which she also illustrated. She lives in Delaware.

    More audiobooks from Erin Entrada Kelly

    Related to Blackbird Fly

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      In the Grass

      Jun 3, 2019

      In the Grass
      23 min read

    • Article

      Ribs, Muscle, Bone

      Jan 7, 2020

      Ribs, Muscle, Bone
      10 min read

    • Article

      Happy Endings

      Sep 1, 2023

      Happy Endings
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nancy Sinatra

      Feb 8, 2021

      Nancy Sinatra
      5 min read

    • Article

      Heave’s Whisky

      Feb 27, 2024

      Heave’s Whisky
      7 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Melissa Lozada-Oliva

      Dec 17, 2021

      I'm always on my way to writing or on my way to reading. These are the big loves of my life but I'm also interested in what pulls me away from them. The post A Year in Reading: Melissa Lozada-Oliva appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      “This’ll Hurt Me More”

      Jun 15, 2020

      “This’ll Hurt Me More”
      2 min read

    • Article

      Lineal Gaps

      Apr 6, 2021

      Lineal Gaps
      15 min read

    • Article

      BITS & PIECES

      Apr 4, 2023

      My father, Basil, was a hardworking West Virginia coal miner, so as a form of relaxation, he would do anything to make people laugh. For example, when my mom, Rachel, my sister, Brenda, and I prepared dinner, we all wore aprons that tied in the back.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      Sideways Infinity

      Jan 1, 2024

      Sideways Infinity
      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘Children of the Land’: Featured Fiction from Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

      Feb 7, 2020

      For the latest edition of featured fiction, we present an excerpt from Children of the Land by poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, out now from Harper. The post ‘Children of the Land’: Featured Fiction from Marcelo Hernandez Castillo appeared first on T

      7 min read

    • Article

      15 Of My Favourite Things

      Aug 16, 2022

      From finding fame in Hear’Say back in 2001 to forging a career as a presenter and clothing designer, Myleene Klass is one of the most recognisable pop stars of the last few decades. But how well do we really know her? Myleene, 44, lives in London wit

      3 min read

    • Article

      Into Our World

      Jan 21, 2019

      Into Our World
      7 min read

    • Article

      Music To Her Ears

      Jun 13, 2022

      Music To Her Ears
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pieces Of Me

      Feb 6, 2022

      Pieces Of Me
      7 min read

    • Article

      All about MY FATHER

      May 13, 2019

      All about MY FATHER
      6 min read

    • Article

      My First Pet

      Feb 2, 2020

      My First Pet
      9 min read

    • Article

      Meet the MODERN GRANNIES

      Oct 6, 2020

      Meet the MODERN GRANNIES
      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘Never Say You Can’t, Always Say You Can And You Will’

      Aug 27, 2020

      Supportive parents really make a difference. My mum and dad, Marge and George, were always very encouraging. I think because I was born just after the war there was the sense in them of, ‘This is the generation that can have more than we had.’ She wa

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Blackbird Fly

    4/5

    50 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      middle school, mean girls, music