Kelly, Erin Entrada.
BLACKBIRD FLY
New York : Greenwillow Books, 2015
IL 5-8, RL 4.4
ISBN 0062238612

Eighth grade can be hard. It’s even harder when your differences make you the target of hateful bullies. Apple moved from the Philippines to Louisiana several years ago, but she still finds life difficult due to her nickname and the embarrassment her mom causes her because she doesn’t speak English well. Apple finds solace in music and will listen to her late father’s Beatles cassette every day. She longs to have a guitar and play the music herself, but her mother forbids it. When bullies create a “Dog Log” of “ugliest girls in the school,” and Apple finds herself on the list, she throws herself into secretly learning to play the guitar with some encouragement from a new friend at school. A story filled with music and friendship, Apple learns more about herself, her heritage, and who her true friends are in this sweet story, with a Beatles song listed in every chapter, in Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly.   (Oklahoma Intermediate Sequoyah Award, 2018)