What My Mother Doesn't Know

1. Bibliography

Sones, Sonya. 2001. What My Mother Doesn’t Know. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. ISBN 0689841140

2. Plot Summary

            It’s tough to be a teenage girl, especially when your father likes to keep his distance and your mother is lost in the world of television. Sophie is like most teenage girls; she is busy looking for Mr. Right. He isn’t so easy to find when the difference between love and lust is so hard to determine. Her two friends Rachel and Grace stick with Sophie as she struggles through love and life.

3. Critical Analysis

            Sonya Sones uses the form of free verse novel to present Sophie’s struggle of discovering the difference between love and lust. The narrative of the story is told in first person perspective from Sophie’s point of view in a conversational language. The way Sones writes the poems they almost are able to present themselves in a diary form. The reader is able to see the deep thoughts of the main character which allows for a connection to be made. While the book is geared for a younger audience both teenage girls and women will be able to relate to the stories presented in the poems. For me personally I was able to flashback to my own memories of being picked up by a boyfriend when reading He’ll be Here Any Minute Now. The entire poem lacks capitalization and punctuation. The poem contains a quick beat, and each section is divided into the same number of lines. The elements in this poem allow for the reader to empathies with the excitement Sophie feels at having Dylan come to get her. The titles of each of the poems help to continue the story from one poem into the next. The titles also go straight into the poem and acts almost as a line in the poem. One example of this is the poem If it Weren’t for Dylan.

            “I wouldn’t be feeling

             like a

             low-down

             dirty rotten

             good-for-nothing

             deceitful

             despicable snake…”

This poem also shows that Sones uses rhythm in many of her poems to express emotions. She also uses precise language to make an emotional impact. The book does not focus strictly on Sophie’s love life, but also on other struggles such as fighting with her mother and hormonal changes, including getting bigger boobs and periods. Many of these poems uses clichés and new ways to talk about uncomfortable topics. She also makes adjustments to some clichés as she does in the final stanza of Okay Here is the Plan:.

            “…And what my mother

doesn’t know,

won’t hurt me.”

The reader expects the final line to be won’t hurt her. Instead Sones sticks to the self-centeredness of the character she has presented. Sones also uses humor to discuss the uncomfortable hormonal issues, an example is in the poem It’s That Time of the Month Again.

            “I wore

            my brand-new white satin panties

            to school today.

            So,

naturally,

            I got my period…”

This is a situation that many females are able to relate to the position she is in. This verse novel is able to touch on various topics and issues which are raised as a young teenage girl. The reader is able to experience the emotions of Sophie and to connect with her; making her a more acceptable character. This allows for the reader to route for her in her struggle to find love. When Sophie finally is able to understand the difference between lust and actual love, a picture is presented on the bottom right pages of a man and a women dancing. This image is a sketch of a famous Renoir poem that is modifies. If the reader flips quickly through the images the couple moves to kiss each other. Overall, this book is relatable to females of various ages and is full of emotion and rhythm.  

4. Reviews

2003 Texas Lone Star State Reading List Choice

Junior Library Guild selection

Scholastic Book Fair selection 

Publishers Weekly; “Drawing on the recognizable cadences of teenage speech, Sones (Stop Pretending) poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy. The author keenly portrays ninth-grader Sophie's trajectory of lusty crushes and disillusionment whether she is gazing at Dylan's "smoldery dark eyes" or dancing with a mystery man to music that "is slow/ and/ saxophony." Best friends Rachel and Grace provide anchoring friendships for Sophie as she navigates her home life as an only child with a distant father and a soap opera-devotee mother whose "shrieking whips around inside me/ like a tornado." Some images of adolescent changes carry a more contemporary cachet, "I got my period I prefer/ to think of it as/ rebooting my ovarian operating system," others are consciously clich‚d, "my molehills/ have turned into mountains/ overnight" this just makes Sophie seem that much more familiar. 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. Ages 12-up.”

From School Library Journal; “…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 having 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 readers' lives, their English classes, their hands in a first love's. Of course, mothers probably do know these goings-on in their daughters' 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

* Why do you think Sonya Sones adds a drawing to the bottom of the last few pages?  

* How can you relate to Sophie? Which poem sounds most like something in your life or the way you feel?

*What is your favorite poem? Why?

* Have people volunteer to read a poem.

* Other books by Sonya Sones:

            Sones, Sonya. What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know. ISBN 0689876033

            Sones, Sonya. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. ISBN
1416907882

            Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. ISBN 0064462188