What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones. That’s the book. I read it either my junior or senior year of high school, though the reading level is much lower than that because at that point in my life I was feeling as if I had missed out on lots of children’s literature altogether (also one of the reasons that I took Children’s Literature this semester - I highly recommend it for anyone at OU). When I was a child I went straight from Bill Wallace to Mary Higgins Clark and never looked back. In the 6th grade I tested on a college reading level and I wasn’t reading any of the books on the teacher’s bookshelf. None of the books in the library looked interesting to me. The day I started 7th grade and got to visit the high school library for the first time was one of those days I will never forget.

Back to the subject at hand. I was buying children’s literature so that I could get caught up. At the time I was planning to be an elementary school teacher (if you want to know my major changes at OU, they go something like this: Elementary Education, Language Arts Education, and lastly, English-Writing) and you know, I needed to be prepared. So I picked this book up at the book fair. It is really, really good. I think children around the age of 12 should have this book or one like it as required reading. It’s about all sorts of family troubles that are just on the fringes of the story, because as a young girl, Sophie (the main character) doesn’t know all the details, but the point is that she does know that something is going on.

And then there is Murphy. The one I am posting this about. Murphy is a boy in Sophie’s class. Murphy isn’t the best looking kid, and Sophie knows she would get teased for hanging out with him…there’s more I could say, but I’ll just post the poem. Whether you were a Murphy or you loved one, I think you will understand.

Watching Murphy During Art Class
from What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

He is so homely,
so downright ugly
that none of the girls
even think about him.

He’s too lowly,
too pitiful
to even bother
making fun of.

So something must be
very wrong with me,
because I want to kiss him.
I want to kiss him real bad,

even though his nose is crooked
and his ears are huge,
even though his hair’s a mess
and his lips are tight and scared.

I want to kiss away
those circles under his eyes
that make him look like
he’s never slept a second in his life.

And those arms of his
seem like they’re just aching
to hold on to someone.
I wish I could let them hold on to me.

When no one was looking,
I’d walk up to him
and say, “Hey, Murph.
Would it be okay if I kissed you?”

And he’d look hurt
because he’d think I was joking
and he’d turn away
to hide his face,

but I’d touch his shoulder and
look at him with gentle misty movie eyes
and say, “Come on. I mean it.
I really want to.”

And he’d look dumbstruck,
and all the gray
would fade out of his eyes
and this light would come into them

and his lips would look like
they were getting ready to smile and then,
before I had a chance to change my mind,
I’d kiss him.

And he’d wrap his skinniness around me
and his arms would be shaking,
and suddenly I’d feel all this love,
all this need pouring into me

right through his lips
into me
and it would feel great,
and I’d close my eyes to feel it better.

(Whoa.
I can’t believe
I’m having this fantasy about Murphy,
when I’m so totally in love with Dylan!)

My current away message on AIM: “it’s the last day of ballroom dance. thank goodness. i’m tired of smelling like onions and cheap cologne.”

(My screename is alliterationliz in case you were wondering.)

I’m not too quick to recommend country music on here, a) because I’m from Oklahoma and there are probably some of you who assume this is my genre of choice, b) because it’s not my genre of choice, and c) because it’s country music and I know how some of my Oklahoma friends feel about that (though I think it’s ridiculous, not all of it is hick music) and they’re from Oklahoma. I can’t imagine what the rest of you might think.

I have to recommend this though. Trisha Yearwood’s latest cd Jasper County, which has been out for a while now, is really, really good. She’s got a great voice and the cd has a variety on it. Nice ballads and a few really peppy tunes. One of my favorites is “Trying to Love You” along with “Georgia Rain” and even though “Georgia Rain” is probably the best song on the cd, almost everyone has heard that so I’m not posting the lyrics to it. Check this music out. You won’t regret it.