Bibliography
Sones, Sonya. WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001. ISBN 0-689-84114-0
Plot Summary
Sones’s book of poems follows fourteen year old Sophie as she falls in love many times and finds out who she can talk to about the various problems in her life. She tries to navigate the waters between love and lust while keeping her two best friends by her side. The poems vary in style with mostly free verse and a few sonnets (like on page 81). Some have complete sentences and others do not. This form gives the idea that the reader is right there in Sophie’s mind – sometimes the thoughts she has are random and flighty while other times they are serious and thought out. The topics covered are all things relevant to a fourteen year old girl: periods, sex, fighting parents, love, being picked on, internet dating, cheating on a boyfriend, and breaking up.
The titles of the poems give insight into what each poem is about like the poem titled “Why I Don’t Mind Being An Only Child” where Sophie explains the relationship she has with her two best friends. There are only pictures on a few pages where Sophie explains her she and her boyfriend made a flip book and if you flip the pages, you can actually see the flip book. The cover fights well with the book itself. Sophie is an artist and enjoys going to the museum. The book cover is a collage of pictures, drawings and paintings that could be seen in the room of a fourteen year old.
Critical Analysis
This is the book I wish I would have had at fourteen. Sones understands what it’s like to get your first period and what you can and can’t tell even your best friends. Sophie is stuck in that awkward age where you aren’t quite a grown up, but you’re not quite a child. When Sophie’s parents fight, she ends up feeling even more like she has no control of her life and her emotions. Sones perfectly captures the idea of lust and how it is so easily disguised as love to a fourteen year old. She describes Sophie sitting on her boyfriend Dylan’s lap and sneaking outside to kiss each other. Painful and raw, Sophie does not hold back in her thoughts about life and everything happening to her. I felt connected to Sophie even more in the poem “I Hate Her” where Sophie is so angry with her mom, but ends the poem by saying “But I hate hating her” (150). This book took me back to the feelings I had at Sophie’s age, especially fighting with my mom, but desperately needing her to understand what I was going through.
There are no topics that Sones leaves out because they are too serious or too tough. Sophie talks about panties she bought and brags to her friends about how excited she is to show them to the girls. She falls for a guy she meets online who turns out to be a scumbag and she is afraid he might meet her in person. Nothing scares Sones away in this book which I think is important because all the topics are truly relevant to girls today. While this book brings up mature topics, I think they all need to be discussed with teenagers and Sones does so in a graceful yet powerful way.
Awards and Review Excerpts
A Junior Library Guild Selection
ALA named one of Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2004 and 2005
International Reading Association Young Adults’ Choice (2003)
Texas Lone Star State Reading List Choice (2003-2004)
Scholastic Teenage Book Club Selection
Booklist Editors Choice (2001)
“Sonya Sones writes with clarity and truth, and knows how to keep us reading.” –David Almond, author of Kit’s Wilderness, an ALA Printz Award Book
“Tender and sexy and honest. With the poetry of an innocent kiss and the passion of a teenager’s heart, Sones has created a book that feels like real love.” –Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, an ALA Printz Honor Book
“Sonya Sones’s is a voice that the literature of the young has been waiting for, even when it’s as silent as the whispering of fingers.” –Richard Peck, author of the Newberry Award-winning A Year Down Yonder
“Each poem – funny, heartbreaking, and honest – perfectly describes a moment in time; together they tell a powerful story.” – Ellen Wittlinger, author of Hard Love, an ALA Printz Honor Book
Connections
• Read other books by Sones: What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know and One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
• Have students write their own poems about issues on their mind. Are they dealing with love or loss or fighting with a friend? What does their mind and their heart feel that they may not be able to say out loud?
• Read other books like those of Sones: The Earth, My Butt and Other Round Things by Carolyn Mackler, Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, or Hate List by Jennifer Brown
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