What My Mother Doesn't Know

Bibliography:

Sones, Sonya. 2001. What My Mother Doesn't Know. New York: Simon & Schuster.
ISBN: 0-689-84114-0

Summary:

Sophie is almost fifteen and discovering what love really means.  She struggles with family issues involving a basically absent mother and father who don't provide the support she needs.  Dealing with the sometimes overwhelming and definitely confusing complexities of high school pressure, Sophie relies on her two best friends for guidance and support, while juggling her hormones and love life.  After her first couple, or few (but who's counting) first loves, it takes an unexpected masked-man to teach her the true meaning of love.

Analysis:

Sonya Sones's novel in verse reveals the life of a rather normal teenage girl dealing with hormones, peer pressure, family issues and boy trouble, all told in a very descriptive realistic tone.  Sophie, the heroine, is brought to life in Sones's free verse texts, told chronologically in journal-like form.  Readers come to love the sweet achingly-human character of Sophie who sees herself as "the Mount Everest of teenage girls" but also "full of possibilities" (pgs. 37, 130).  Sones's vivid language builds Sophie's voice that readers can hear as they observe and participate in her adventures.  Readers hear Sophie as she debates and struggles with her feelings for her Christmas vacation friend, "I mean I do like him, but I don't like him" (pg. 191).  Even the verse titles capture Sophie's essence, such as "Oh, Man" and "How Could I Have Forgotten" (pgs. 191, 145).  Sophie's struggles and triumphs create lasting emotions with the reader who feels the pain, joy and lustful feelings Sones's words emote.  Sophie's verses in What My Mother Doesn't Know tell her tale of teenage angst, love, loss and more love, giving readers a very relate-able precious glimpse into their own past, present or future.

Reviews:

Junior Library Guild selection

"Romantic and sexy, with a happy ending that leaves Sophie together with Mr. Right, Sones (Stop Pretending: What Happened when My Big Sister Went Crazy, 1999) has crafted a verse experience that will leave teenage readers sighing with recognition and satisfaction." - Kirkus Reviews 9/15/01

American Library Association - one of the Top 100 Most Banned Books of the Decade (2000-2010), Best Book for Young Adults (2002)

	“...Sones (Stop Pretending) poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy ... With its separate free verse poems woven into a fluid and coherent narrative with a satisfying ending, Sophie’s honest and earthy story feels destined to captivate a young female audience, avid and reluctant readers alike.”- Publishers Weekly (found on www.sonyasones.com)

“... Sones is a bright, perceptive writer who digs deeply into her protagonist’s soul ... Sones’s poems are glimpses through a peephole many teens may be peering through for the first time, unaware that others are seeing virtually the same new, scary, unfamiliar things ... Sones’s book makes these often-difficult years a little more livable by making them real, normal, and OK.” - School Library Journal (found on www.sonyasones.com)
 
Connections:

• Personal journaling in free verse
• Study other novels in verse:
• Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy - Sonya Sones
• By the River - Stephen Herrick
• Out of the Dust - Karen Hesse
• Literacy extension - write about what happened to Sophie after slinking into the cafeteria