Publishers Weekly
03/14/2016
Kelly (Blackbird Fly) balances the bleak and the beautiful in a novel about the multilayered bond between sisters. Twelve-year-old narrator Sol and her six-year-old sister, Ming, live in a depressing, rat-infested apartment building with their cruel stepmother, Vea, who taps cigarette ashes into the carpet and locks them in the closet when they misbehave. Soon after the girls' mother and younger sister Amelia died, their father married Vea and moved all of them from the Philippines to Louisiana, only to abandon them and return home. In a supernatural thread woven into the story, Sol converses with the ghost of Amelia, who offers advice and helps Sol parse what is true and what is real. Fairy-tale fantasies and extensions of the tales their mother once told Sol contrast with her day-to-day life with her best friend Manny and a well-developed cast that includes an artistically inclined junkyard owner and a kind neighbor. While the story is resolved a bit tidily, Kelly's strong heroine offers hope in the face of loss. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
[An] enchanting plot propelled by delightful narration. This book will appeal to a broad array of readers, as it has a little bit of everything-fantasy, realism, sisterhood, friendship, suspense, and humor. A charming and affecting novel about sisterhood, the magic of imagination, and perseverance.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“Kelly’s sophomore novel is both hopeful and heartfelt, but strong emotions are only part of the successful equation here. Told in Sol’s true voice, the direct dialogue brings the diverse characters to vivid life.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Kelly deftly captures the tumultuous emotions of a preteen who is forced to grow up faster than other girls her age.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Sisterhood, friendship, truth, hope: these are the themes that lift The Land of Forgotten Girls… into the realm of the truly special. …Readers who feel marginalized or alone in their troubles-and who doesn’t at times?-will adore Sol and her ragtag family, both chosen and real.’” — Shelf Awareness
“Kelly balances the bleak and the beautiful in a novel about the multilayered bond between sisters…Kelly’s strong heroine offers hope in the face of loss.” — Publishers Weekly
“This stirring and original story ends on a credibly hopeful note while remaining firmly rooted in reality, and readers who have embraced Sol will be cautiously optimistic for her future. …Sol’s central struggles are gripping. Fans of Rita Williams-Garcia’s family…may particularly enjoy spending time with Sol.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“This story addresses the importance of family, especially sisterhood, diversity in friendships, the gift of forgiveness, perseverance through difficult circumstances, and the need for hope.…Erin Entrada Kelly is a formidable middle grade author.” — Litstack
Praise for Blackbird Fly: “Each character in Kelly’s debut novel . . . is portrayed with remarkable authenticity. The awkwardness and intense feelings inherent to middle school are palpable. Children’s literature has been waiting for Apple Yengko—a strong, Asian-American girl whose ethnic identity simultaneously complicates and enriches her life.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Will resonate with any student in middle school who has felt different and ostracized. The author has skillfully captured the various characters that populate Apple’s . . . school.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“[A] delightful debut . . . Through her love of music . . . Apple starts to soar like the eponymous blackbird of her favorite Beatles song.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A smart, sensitive, and resilient heroine who is authentic and relatable in her strengths and imperfections. This poignant novel would make for a particularly fine readaloud; expect visceral reactions . . . This is a must-read for those kids cringing at their own identities.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Writing with acute sensitivity and sometimes painful realism, debut novelist Kelly skillfully captures the betrayals, tentative first crushes, and fluctuating emotions of middle school ... a true triumph.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Kelly has written another beautiful story which will appeal to readers of all ages. ...The story is one of love and courage in the face of adversity, sisterly bonds, and the realization that family can be formed in many different ways.” — Catholic Library World
Litstack
This story addresses the importance of family, especially sisterhood, diversity in friendships, the gift of forgiveness, perseverance through difficult circumstances, and the need for hope.…Erin Entrada Kelly is a formidable middle grade author.
Shelf Awareness
Sisterhood, friendship, truth, hope: these are the themes that lift The Land of Forgotten Girls… into the realm of the truly special. …Readers who feel marginalized or alone in their troubles-and who doesn’t at times?-will adore Sol and her ragtag family, both chosen and real.’
Booklist (starred review)
Kelly’s sophomore novel is both hopeful and heartfelt, but strong emotions are only part of the successful equation here. Told in Sol’s true voice, the direct dialogue brings the diverse characters to vivid life.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
[A] delightful debut . . . Through her love of music . . . Apple starts to soar like the eponymous blackbird of her favorite Beatles song.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
This stirring and original story ends on a credibly hopeful note while remaining firmly rooted in reality, and readers who have embraced Sol will be cautiously optimistic for her future. …Sol’s central struggles are gripping. Fans of Rita Williams-Garcia’s family…may particularly enjoy spending time with Sol.
Catholic Library World
Kelly has written another beautiful story which will appeal to readers of all ages. ...The story is one of love and courage in the face of adversity, sisterly bonds, and the realization that family can be formed in many different ways.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
This stirring and original story ends on a credibly hopeful note while remaining firmly rooted in reality, and readers who have embraced Sol will be cautiously optimistic for her future. …Sol’s central struggles are gripping. Fans of Rita Williams-Garcia’s family…may particularly enjoy spending time with Sol.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
This stirring and original story ends on a credibly hopeful note while remaining firmly rooted in reality, and readers who have embraced Sol will be cautiously optimistic for her future. …Sol’s central struggles are gripping. Fans of Rita Williams-Garcia’s family…may particularly enjoy spending time with Sol.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
[A] delightful debut . . . Through her love of music . . . Apple starts to soar like the eponymous blackbird of her favorite Beatles song.
School Library Journal
12/01/2016
Gr 3–6—After their mother dies, Soledad and Ming's father brings his daughters and his new wife from the Philippines to the United States—and soon abandons them. Their stepmother, Vea, is angry and abusive, and Soledad spins stories for her younger sister to help them both survive. Themes of resilience, sisterhood, and the power of the imagination are interwoven in this tender, ultimately hopeful tale.
School Library Journal - Audio
★ 06/01/2016
Gr 3–6—Once upon a time, Soledad had two sisters and two loving parents. But tragedy can happen to anyone at any time, and suddenly, Sol and her younger sister, Ming, are transplanted to the other side of the world in a run-down apartment in Louisiana, abandoned by their desperate father and left in the (so-called) care of an abusive stepmother. Sol's only joyful memories have to do with stories, especially the fantastic adventures her lost mother shared starring the peripatetic, adventurous, world-hopping Auntie Jove. Buoyed by courage, and with new friends and a fairy faux-grandmother on her side, Sol just might figure out how to navigate this new world. Narrator Lulu Lam's quintessentially youthful voice effortlessly blends a wide variety of emotions, backgrounds, and intensities. VERDICT Kelly's nuanced, resonating story about life between two cultures, surviving loss, and finding family in the least expected places is ideal for any quality middle grade collection; extra points for superb multicultural representation as well. ["A charming and affecting novel about sisterhood, the magic of imagination, and perseverance" SLJ 12/15 starred review of the Greenwillow book.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
MAY 2016 - AudioFile
Narrator LuLu Lam's silvery, matter-of-fact tones are perfectly suited to portray Sol, who is trying to navigate adolescence and keep her little sister happy and safe by any means necessary. After the death of their mother, Sol and Ming's father moves from the Philippines to Louisiana with his daughters and their cruel stepmother, and then he promptly abandons them. As the narrative jumps between past and present, between misery and anticipation, Lam's range and insight guide her through a parade of intriguing characters. Kelly's story is of loss and redemption, and the power of hope to slowly transform. Lam's poise and skill give extra weight to the action, and bolster the fantastical stories that Sol uses to keep herself strong in times of despair. K.S.B. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-12-08
Two Filipino sisters living with their mean stepmother discover hope in unexpected places. Kelly (Blackbird Fly, 2015) returns to southern Louisiana in her second book. Twelve-year-old Sol has no family left except for her youngest sister, Ming. Soon after they immigrated to a small Louisiana town, their father returned to the Philippines, abandoning the sisters with their unhappy stepmother, Vea. Sol imagines herself and Ming as princesses fighting an evil dragon in order to endure their stepmother's verbal and physical abuse, their subsidized apartment building becoming a fairy-tale tower. She and her best friend, Manny, befriend a white girl from the other side of town, and Sol begins to rely less on her stories while Ming desperately holds on. When Ming announces that an aunt will save the sisters from their evil stepmother, Sol can't bear to tell Ming that the aunt doesn't exist. Always the strong older sister, she desperately searches for a solution before her heated relationship with Vea explodes. Kelly deftly captures the tumultuous emotions of a preteen who is forced to grow up faster than other girls her age. The book focuses mostly on Sol's inner struggles, however, and it lacks the momentum to turn its quiet characters into a full-blown tale that effectively handles the class and race issues that it touches upon. A promising story that doesn't quite find its footing. (Fiction. 10-14)
