You may or may not know this already, but Joood - Hooligan of Platypire Reviews is notoriously bad at writing reviews after she finishes reading books. I'm serious, her to be reviewed list is almost as long as my Platypire Read-A-Thon list, and that thing is monstrous. So after much cajoling on Joood's part, I have decided to help her out and once a week I'm going to write one of her reviews for her because I'm a good friend like that, and there is no way this could possibly go wrong. I will be writing the reviews as if I actually am Joood.
For this edition of Joood's Reviews, I have selected Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly.
Genre: Middle Grade/Realistic Fiction
Published: March 24, 2015
Pages: 304
Synopsis
Future rock star, or friendless misfit? That’s no choice at all. In this debut tween novel, twelve-year-old Apple grapples with being different; with friends and backstabbers and following her dreams.
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, makes mistakes with her English, and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” It becomes unbearable in middle school, when the boys—the stupid, stupid boys—in Apple’s class put her name on the Dog Log, the list of the most unpopular girls in school. 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 how special she really is.
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, makes mistakes with her English, and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” It becomes unbearable in middle school, when the boys—the stupid, stupid boys—in Apple’s class put her name on the Dog Log, the list of the most unpopular girls in school. 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 how special she really is.
Favorite Quotes
"New Orleans is three hours away, so it'll be a long journey."
"That was the only time I've ever talked to Donna Duttons, and we hadn't really talked, but every time I've seen her, she's wearing something purple -- a purple shirt, purple pants, purple bow, whatever. Purple has got to be her favorite color."
"She took a swig of her Diet Coke. Usually she drank Dr. Pepper, but as soon as the school had announced the Halloween Dance, she switched to Diet Coke."
"In the Philippines children have respect for adults."
Review
Sofia the Great conned me into reading this book for book club by promising to treat me to Whataburger if I read it. Well, I read it and she hasn't paid up, but I almost don't care. Blackbird Fly was almost as good as the Chop House Cheddar Burger, onion rings and warm apple pie that I'm planning on getting when the water levels go down and we finally make it to Whataburger.
I felt like I had a lot in common with Apple. For starter's, when I was a kid, it was my dream to learn how to play the triangle, but my parents said it would make too much racket and refused to buy one for me. It took me three years of scrubbing toilets for the elderly lady who lived next door to save up enough money to buy that triangle, but when I finally did it was the happiest day of my life. That day was even better than the day I learned about platypuses.
I really struggled with the triangle at first, but then my imaginary friends Czar Fancypants and Bob suggested we start a band and it all suddenly made sense to me. We were really good too. All of my other imaginary friends said so.
Anyway, I really loved this book because it reminded me of such an important part of my formative years. I highly recommend it. 5 rocking platypires. - Joood - Hooligan
Buy the Book
Amazon
About the Author
About the Author
Erin Entrada Kelly was raised in Lake Charles, La., but now lives in suburban Philadelphia. Her mother was the first in her family to emigrate from the Philippines. Erin is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and was a finalist for the Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Fiction. To learn more, visit her online at www.erinentradakelly.com.
Alternate Reviews
If you would like to read some legitimate reviews of Blackbird Fly, click on any of the links below.
make Sofia honor her bribe - then you score twice ;)
ReplyDeleteI want a video of Jude's rocking Triangle skills!
ReplyDeleteI do too! She needs to find her triangle and get that done for us :) - Katie
DeleteThat was an...interesting book review. At least you liked it! :)
ReplyDeleteSo do you actually read these books? or does Judith haha
ReplyDeleteWell, I had actually read The Man I Love (Judith hasn't finished that one yet, which is why the Joood's Review was a DNF). I haven't read this book (although I won it on Goodreads over a year ago, so I had a copy available to find some quotes), but Judith has read it.
DeleteBut really, these reviews are made up and the points don't matter. - Katie