WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya. 2003. WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689855532

2. PLOT SUMMARY
This verse novel tells the story of Sophie, a ninth grader who struggles as she falls in love with the wrong boy. At first she thinks she loves Dylan (“But Dylan calls me Sapphire. He says it’s because of my eyes. I love the way his voice sounds when he says it.”). Sophie begins to realize that she and Dylan aren’t that compatible (“If only Dylan liked Ferris wheels/If only I liked roller coasters”).

A cyber relationship turns from an innocent flirtation to something perverse(“I read those words again and again, trying to get myself to believe them/I felt like I was plummeting through cyberspace out of control/until I took some deep breaths, pulled myself together/and wrote: “Consider yourself permanently deleted.”/Then, I clicked off”).

When Sophie finally meets the right boy, she must make a choice: to date an outcast or continue to enjoy her social status and friendships. As the novel ends, Sophie chooses the boy (“He’s smiling through and through. And I am, too. Because everything’s going to be all right. Sometimes I just know things.”).

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This verse novel is written from a first person point of view (Sophie’s). The chapters in this novel are the titled individual poems that follow Sophie through growing up (from “molehills to mountains” and “the rebooting of my ovarian system”) to her personal relationships (“maybe if I hadn’t lied to her in the first place, my mother wouldn’t be down there in the basement right now”). This young adult novel is full of realism from “Another Business Trip” for Sophie’s father, “Winter Break” in which Sophie is the only one in her group to have no vacation plans, to “I Slink into the Cafeteria” in which Sophie sits with her new boyfriend, possibly alienating herself from her friends. The language is real to teens and although there are 259 pages, this book reads easily.
“Tears”
Usually/I can feel them coming/feel them swirling in my chest/like a swarm of angry bees, /buzzing up through my neck/and filling my head,/ till it feels like a balloon/getting ready to burst./Usually/there’s time to at least try to stop them/before they sting out through my eyes/and slip down my cheeks like hot wax./But not this time.

The only illustrations are in the form of a flip book and occur the last fifteen pages. It is supposed to resemble the flip book that Sophie and Robin drew together, depicting a couple from long ago sharing a kiss. In the poem “Dear Grachel and Race” the author has Sophie explain the flip book to her friends, Rachel and Grace.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
BOOKLIST Starred Review
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Starred Review
Booklist: “In a fast, funny , touching book, Sones uses the same simple, first-person poetic narrative she used in STOP PRETENDING:WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY, but this story isn’t about family anguish; it’s about the joy and surprise of falling in love. The poetry is never pretentious or difficult; on the contrary, the very short, sometimes rhythmic lines make each page fly. Sophie’s voice is colloquial and intimate, and the discoveries she makes are beyond formula, even while they are as sweetly romantic as popular song. A natural for reluctant readers, this will also attract young people who love to read.”

Publisher’s Weekly: “Drawing on the recognizable cadences of teenage speak, Sones 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 hones and earthy story feels destined to captivate a young female audience, avid and reluctant readers alike.”

School Library Journal: “A story written in poetry form, Sophie is happily dating Dylan. Then she falls for cyberboy. Imagine her surprise when he becomes downright scary. In the satisfying ending, Sophie finds the perfect boyfriend-someone she’s known all along. Sones is a bright, perceptive writer who digs deeply into her protagonist’s soul. There she reveals the telltale signs of being “boy-crazy”; the exciting edginess of cyber romances; the familiar, timeless struggle between teens and parents; and the anguish young people feel when their parents fight. But life goes on, and relationships subtly change. 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 (parents have nuclear meltdowns, meeting a boyfriend’s parents, crying for no apparent reason). In WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW, a lot is revealed about the teenage experience-(“could I really be falling for that geek I dissed a month ago?”), clashes with close friends, and self-doubts. It could, after all, be reader’s lives, their English classes, their hands in a first love’s. Of course, mothers probably do know these goings-on in their daughter’s lives. It’s just much easier to believe they don’t. Sones’s book makes these often-difficult years a little more livable by making them real, normal, and OK.”

5. CONNECTIONS
This book of verse is written from the view point of Sophie. The sequel is written from the view point of Robin, Sophie’s boyfriend. The students could predict what the title to the sequel is, what the cover might look like, and write some of the verses and/or summarize what the book would be about.

The sequel is:
Sones, Sonya. WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T KNOW. ISBN 069876025

Students could also go through the book and rewrite some of Sophie’s verses to fit their life. They could also pick the poem most like them and the one least like them and respond with their reasons.

A verse book dealing with grieving:
Sones, Sonya. ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES. ISBN 1416907882

A verse book dealing with mental illness:
Sones, Sonya. STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY. ISBN 0613349792

Poetry for Teens:
Cormier, Robert. FRENCHTOWN SUMMER. ISBN 0385327048
Wong, Janet. BEHIND THE WHEEL: DRIVING POEMS. ISBN 0689825315