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Gabriella Mager

Cramer

College Comp Pd. 7

12/18/2020

Unlikely Friends Found in Unlikely Places

Have you ever been bullied about something you could not change about yourself? This

book will make you; the reader understand what it is like to be torn down in the worst ways

possible. In the novel Puddin’, Julie Murphy tells a compelling story that teaches the reader that

prejudice of many kinds still exists, and that friendship can be found in unexpected places. The

two main characters, Millie and Callie, deal with multiple problems resulting in an unlikely

friendship. Millie, a girl that is bright and bubbly that has finally become confidant with her body

image, deals with jokes from her peers all throughout this book. Callie, a girl that has few friends

other than the dance team and her boyfriend, will soon realize that they aren't truly her friends as

she thought they were. They both deal with every day high school drama, but one likes to keep

herself, happy and drama free. While the other blows everything out of portion. In this book the

reader will learn the true feeling of how it feels to be bullied.

First off, the reader gets an insight into both the main characters' lives in chapter one and

two. The reader learns that Millie is a big hearted and loveable character. She also works in her

uncle's gym, and they appreciate the help she gives. She is kind, loud, caring, and she just wants

everyone to be happy. The reader will begin to like this character from her bubbly personality.

Other characters in the story do not appreciate her loudness, they think she should hide in the

shadows and try to stay hidden for the way she looks. People in the hallway would make pig
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noises as she walked by. This makes her feel upset but normally she lifts her head up and keeps

going (Murphy Chapter 1). In the next chapter, the reader meets Callie. Callie is upfront, strong

and knows what she wants out of high school. The reader learns that Callie mostly cares about

the dance team and her boyfriend, Bryce. In this chapter, Callie learns that there is no funding for

the dance team. Callies’ feelings are shown on page 21, Murphy writes, "Panic swells in my

chest, but I refuse to appear anything less than calm.” Callie also does not feel like she fits in and

the dance team was her only outlet. People assume that Callie is the nanny to her white little

sister, just because she is the only Mexican in her white household. At least she has an amazing

boyfriend currently to help her feel a bit better. The two main charters are not friends, they only

know each other from school.

Meanwhile, the reader finds out that Callie wants payback for the loss of funding. The

gym Millie works at was the sponsor for the dance team. On page 67, Murphy explains what the

dance team decides to do. They vandalized the gym and broke in and throw eggs. Callie was the

only one that got caught due to the necklace she was wearing. The punishment for Callie was she

had to work in the gym cleaning. The reader finds that Callie begins to hate her life and she uses

that hate for other people in the book. Callie puts down Millie for being overweight, she says

some horrible comments as in “you're a pro on the workout machines?”(Murphy 145) meaning,

Millie would not know how to use the workout machines because she was overweight and does

not work out. Millie was hurt about this, but she puts a smile on and keeps moving on.

Eventually, Callie realizes and claims it was just a joke and she should not be hurt by it. Millie is

strong willed and all she wants is for others to be happy. Later that week, Callie, and her

boyfriend, Byrce get into to a huge fight in the middle of the hallway because Callie thought he

was cheating on her. She screams at him in the middle of the hallway and ends up smashing his
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phone, even though there was no other girl. Now that they have broken up Callie has no friends

and no life, other than working at the gym.

On the other hand, Millie invites Callie to a slumber party this Saturday. Callie does not

want to go, but her mom tells her she can go right in front of Millie. Now Callie feels obligated

to go because she does not want to hurt Millies feelings. Surprisingly, Callie enjoyed her time

there. She thought that she would hate it, but she found herself jealous of the girls and their

friendship. Callie finds that she does want to be a part of their friend group because they support

each other and make one another happy.

To sum up, Callie and Millie were meant to be friends they just didn’t know it yet. They

both help each other grow in character development. In the novel Puddin’, Julie Murphy tells a

compelling story that teaches the reader that prejudice of many kinds still exists, and that

friendship can be found in unexpected places. They truly became unexpected friends.
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Murphy, Julie. Puddin'. New York: Publisher's name, 2018. Print