Meet-the-Author Recording with Erin Entrada Kelly

Blackbird Fly |

Erin Entrada Kelly introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating Blackbird Fly.

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Erin Kelly: My name is Erin Entrada Kelly and I'm the author of Blackbird Fly. Blackbird Fly is largely based off of my own experiences growing up in south Louisiana. I was the only Filipino in my school, and there wasn't and still really isn't, a very large asian community in general in the area. So when I was growing up, people constantly asked me, "What are you? What are you?" They usually assumed I was Chinese. I was a rather lonely and introspective kid, and for me, writing was a way of escaping anything that was going on in my life.

Apple is the same way, but for her, it's music. So now I'm going to read the first chapter of Blackbird Fly. And the title of the chapter is, The Day it Snowed.

On the day we moved to America, it snowed in Chapel Spring Louisiana, for the first time in 20 years. My mother said it was a sign that the seasons of our lives were changing. Even though I was only four years old, I can still remember how she hugged me close, and said we had something wonderful to look forward to, a life as real Americans. When you start a new life, you're supposed to get rid of everything from your old one, according to my mom at least. So on the day it snowed, my mom had nothing from the Philippines except for her Catholic bible, and a picture of her grandmother.

I had an old postcard and a Beatles cassette tape, Abbey Road, to be exact. My father had written his name on it in black marker, a long, long time ago, H. Yengko it said. Some of the letters had rubbed off, but his name was as clear as ever to me. I grabbed the tape quickly, before we left our Barangay, because it was the only thing that would fit in my pocket.

For a long time, I couldn't listen to the tape because I didn't have a tape player, but last year I found one for 10 cents at a garage sale. And then I heard the tape for the first time. I could tell that my dad listened to it a lot because the tape was cracked, and the names of songs were faded. But I understood right away, why he wore it down. Once you listen to the Beatles, you can't go back. They're the best rock band that's ever lived, in my opinion.

George Harrison is my favorite Beatle. He mostly played lead guitar, but he also sang and wrote songs.

This Meet-the-Author Recording with Erin Entrada Kelly was exclusively created in by TeachingBooks with thanks to HarperCollins.