Poetry Book Review: 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: 0689855532

2. PLOT SUMMARY
In the first book in this series, Sonya Sones writes a delightful verse novel telling the story of Sophie, a 9th grade Jewish girl living in a suburb of Massachusetts. This book highlights the ups and downs of various relationships that occur in Sophie’s life. Sones gives the reader a window into Sophie’s dysfunctional relationship with and between her parents, the strong bond she has with her two best friends, and the struggle she feels when she starts to have feelings for the most unpopular boy in school, Robin Murphy.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
During my reading of WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW, I was overcome by several emotions. I felt anger and resentment for the way Murphy was treated by the other characters in the story, I laughed at the crazy antics of Sophie and her two best friends, and I felt butterflies as Sophie started to fall in love with the masked man at her high school dance. Written from the point of view of Sophie, a high school freshman, this verse novel took me through a roller coaster of emotions because of Sones use of vivid language. With lines such as, “And when he pulls me to him and presses his lips to mine it feels as if our souls are kissing” and “I feel so totally in love and so total miserable,” Sones word helps the reader create a mental picture of what Sophie is experiencing and the trials and tribulations that are her life. Furthermore, the conversational writing and the font changes throughout each poem make the reader feel like they are actually getting a sneak peak into Sophie’s private diary. Sone does a masterful job of writing from a teenage perspective about everyday issues that any teen can relate to.

To further evoke the readers feelings, the author chose to write some of her poems in shapes to help illustrate the emotion the character was filling at the moment. To illustrate my point, in the poem entitled “I Wish” Sones chose to write the poem in the shape of an upside-down equilateral triangle to help convey Sophie’s wish to be able to shrink and be placed into the shirt pocket of her then boyfriend Dylan, so she could be placed right next to his heart and listen to it beat. The imagery Sones uses helps to capture Sophie’s emotions in that moment which helps the reader connect to her feelings.

Overall, WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW does a wonderful job drawing in the reader and making them feel all the angst, happiness, and sorrow that a freshman in high school as to offer.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY review: "Drawing on the recognizable cadence of teenage speech, the author poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy,"

VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES (VOYA) review: “The poems are snappy, and each one strikes a chord that fluidly moves the reader on to the next episode.”

5. CONNECTIONS
*Teach students about verse novels/poetry and have a daily assignment where students create their own verse novel/poetry book entitled “What My _____________ Doesn’t Know.” Students can fill in the blank with any noun they would like. The verse poems the students write can be about anything they want them to be as long as what they are writing about occurred in their daily life.

*Other Sonya Sones verse novels:
Sones, Sonya. WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T KNOW. ISBN: 9780689876028
Sones, Sonya. STOP PRETENDING! WHAT HAPPENEDWHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY. ISBN: 9780064462181
Sones, Sonya. ONE OF THOSE HIDDIOUS BOOKS WHERE YOUR MOTHER DIES. ISBN: 9781416907886