What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sones, Sonya. 2001. What my mother doesn’t know. New York: Simon and Schuster for Young Readers. ISBN 0689841140

ORGANIZATION OF COLLECTION

What my mother doesn’t know is a collection of poems written to tell a story. Sones has written a novel in free verse to tell the story of a young Sophie, a high school freshman, her home life, friends, her boyfriend issues and boy troubles. Sophie’s mother is disconnected from her life and has no knowledge of the trials in Sophie's personal life. There is no table of contents to interfere with the prose-like reading. Background information of the poet is provided on the last page of the book and on the inside back jacket. Each poem has its own title and poem length is from one to three pages.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Authenticity of voice, universality and timeliness are present as Sones poetry rings true for many adults past experiences as a young high school student and especially those of the online computer age. Evidence of a strong persona is evident in the main character who, struggles and overcomes hardships in her personal life to do what is right. Poem format relies on line breaks and spacing to indicate free verse and rhythm. A few E-mails received by the protagonist’s friends are kept in prose format. Emotion is evident in the sensory words used to provide imagery and voice. In the lines from the poem titled, “Between Classes with Dylan”, “We fall into step / in the crowded hall / without even glancing / at each other, / but his little finger / finds mine, / hooking us / together, / and all the clatter / of the corridor fades away / till the only sound I hear / is the whispering of our fingers.” Figurative language is also used by the poet to show emotion, as in the lines from the poem titled, ”Litterbox ICG”, If I could marry a font / I’d marry his.” And then after finding her new online friend to be a pervert, in the poem titled, “Deleted”. “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.’ ”. The intended audience for this body of work is young adult readers due to the sexual references.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Review from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “A story written in poetry form. ... 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.”

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “Drawing on the recognizable cadence of teenage speech, the author poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy … ”.

Review from VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES:

“This book was very well written. The topic was just right for Sones. Her writing style and the way she incorporates poetry into her stories is really wonderful. I think this is an incredibly good book and I would recommend it along with her other one.” Andrea A., Teen Reviewer.

CONNECTIONS

Related books

Other books by Sonya Sones:

Sones, Sonya. 2007. What my girlfriend doesn’t know. New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. ISBN 0689876025
-- 2001. Stop pretending: What happened when my big sister went crazy. HarperCollins. ISBN 0064462188
-- 2004. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. ISBN 0689858205

Activities

* Challenge students to find and locate other novels in verse in the school library.
*Encourage students to create one book review on a 3x5 card for one novel in verse book they read. Place the book and review on display by the checkout counter.
*For those students interested in Sonya Sones as an author, invite them to review her webpage at http://www.sonyasones.com/index.html