Sonya Sones knows fourteen. Her main character
Sophie is the voice of a girl experiencing all that her
age offers, from her infatuation with Dylan, her thoughts
about the geeky kid Murphy (which waiver form
compassion to curiosity), to her near trouble with a
cyber pervert. Sones writes the experience perfectly.
Favorites: The Mockingbird: “trying on one voice
after another, pausing briefly between each one, to
see if he’s attracting the girl bird of his dreams…”
Sophie dances with a masked man at her Halloween
dance and she falls “in love” but can’t figure out who
it is. Over Christmas vacation she meets up with
Murphy at the museum and they realize they have
a lot in common. They slowly start out as friends,
but by New Year’s they are as close as a couple
can be. This is where I started to cry. Murphy is a
school outcast, but Sophie sees the real him. But will
she be able to continue to date him once they return
to school and the cruelty of others who have pegged
him as a loser?
We’ve all known Murphys, and most of us have had
the chance to see them as human, but do we? Or do
we worry what others think? Sophie makes the mature,
brave choice in the end! And I’m still sobbing even
though I’m relieved.
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