First grade student Marley Parker was in for a huge surprise when she opened the class textbook she had just been given at Latta Elementary School in Oklahoma.
TIME reported that Marley could not believe her eyes when she opened the book and saw that it had once belonged to country music star Blake Shelton! The book, “Look Away: Keys to Reading,” had belonged to Shelton back in 1982 and had been passed down from student to student ever since. The singer is now 41 years old.
Though Marley was excited to have a textbook that once belonged to “The Voice” judge, her mother Shelly Bryan Parker was less than pleased.
“Marley is Excited that her ‘new’ reader belonged to Blake Shelton, but I am embarrassed! I’m 40 and these people are my age!” Parker posted on Facebook. “Thank you to every teacher/parent/staffer/etc. for fighting for my kids education! Don’t give up until education is fully funded!”
Parker, a former teacher herself, opened up to reporters about how stunned she was to see her daughter was being given a book that was this old.
“I said, ‘No, that can’t be,’” Parker said. “I can’t believe these books are so old. When I was in school, I wasn’t using books that were 40 years old.”
Marley, however, could not be happier about having Shelton’s book.
“Everyone’s been teasing her about being famous,” Parker said. “It’s been kind of funny to see how she acts now that this thing has gone viral.”
Perhaps it does say something about the education system in the U.S. that the same textbook was being used for over 35 years, but it’s also very exciting for a little girl in a small Oklahoma town to have the book of a television and music sensation!
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