Blackbird Fly

Blackbird Fly

Juvenile fiction
"'She may not be Chinese, but I guarantee you don't wanna go to
her house and ask her mom for hot dogs,' Jake said. He put his
fingers on the corners of his eyes and pulled them to make slits.
'Would you-ah like-ah Chinese tea with-ah you-ah hot-
dahg?'"
Like many other immigrant youngsters, Apple Yengko, narrator of
Erin Entrada Kelly's Blackbird Fly, is caught between two worlds:
those of school and home. At school she is ridiculed for her Filipino
looks and accused of stuff like eating dogs. She hasn't had anyone
over to visit since, back in third grade, when a sleepover guest
critiqued her home and mother to all their peers. Her best friends
seem only lukewarmly supportive, more interested in getting in with
the popular crowd.
Apple's escape is Beatles music. She longs to become a musician
and start a new life. Maybe she could become a New Orleans street
performer. She has to figure out how to earn enough money to buy a
guitar...
...because her mother won't buy her one. Mom won't even let her
be in her school's swing choir. In her mind music is a waste of time
that will get Apple nowhere. Academics are all that counts in America
where they came to for a better life.
Apple isn't sold on her mother's beliefs. "...I don't
understand how our life in America is any better. In the Philippines,
I would be just another face in the crowd. No one would call me a dog-
eater or a dog. Maybe I would even be pretty."
On a personal note, Earth Day up to UMaine was the cat's pajamas. We
celebrated on the quad. There was nonstop music. People threw
frisbees. A few people painted themselves green and biked around
campus. (It's a tradition. It sure doesn't look fun.) At lunch time
free pizza appeared. (A tradition I can understand a whole lot
better). A bunch of us tabled for different causes. I was with Real
Food Challenge. We used fabric paint to make a cool new banner. And
we had a food quiz. Everyone who entered it was eligible for a prize
drawing.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated in Earth Day
activities. Can you believe it's been 46 years since the first Earth
Day?
jules hathaway



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