What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

Bibliography
Sones, Sonya. 2001. What my mother doesn't know. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689855535

Plot Summary 

This book is a series of poems narrated by high school student Sophie.  Sophie tells the story of falling for her first love and then falling out of that love.  We see her parent's marriage slowly crumble as her father is gone away from home more often on business trips and coming home late at night.  At a school Halloween dance, Sophie has a memorable dance with a boy in a mask who runs off as soon as the dance is over.  Time goes by and Sophie starts spending time with and eventually falling in love with the school laughing stock.  Eventually she finds out it was him behind the mask and chooses to be his girlfriend despite the ridicule she might face at school.  

Critical Analysis

The rhythm of this book varies from short staccato lines to longer couplets.  This is also true about the lengths of each poem.  They can be very short or longer.  This matches the thoughts of a lot of teenage girls who sometimes get straight to the point or tend to have drawn out thoughts that take more time to process. 

A major appeal of this book is how the language sounds so much like that of a teenage girl.  Sophie's thoughts are deep but expressed in a way that teen girls can relate to which is one of Sonya Sones most impressive abilities to me.  Some poems are silly confessions like the poem titled "Confessions" where Sophie admits to kissing her knee and pretending it is her boyfriend when he is not around.  Other poems are more serious like the one titled "Mom and Dad Used to be in Love" where Sophie talks about her parents terrible, screaming fights and how she just wishes she could escape.  All of these capture the up and down emotions of what it is like to be a teenage girl.  

Review Excerpts

• Publisher's Weekly- "Sophie's honest and earthy story feels destined to captivate a young female audience"
• School Library Journal- "Sones's book makes these often-difficult years a little more livable by making them real, normal, and OK"

Connections

*Read the follow up story to this book titled What my girlfriend doesn't know told from the point of view of Sophie's boyfriend, Robin.  ISBN 978-0689876028

*Explore the Boston Museum of Fine Arts website and see for yourself what Sophie and Robin were experiencing on their museum trips.