BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya. 2001. WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW. New York. Simon&Shuster. ISBN: 978-0-689-84114-9
PLOT SUMMARY
Sophia, describes her relationships with the different boys she dates and explains what she feels with each one. When she finally meets “Mr. Right and a half,” who was not someone she initially expected to ever like, she overlooks what everyone will think and openly embraces her love for Murphy, the boy everyone would joke about.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The characters, high school students, are very relatable to the intended young adult audience. Their experiences are consistent with high school crushes, friendships, dating and relationships. We follow Sophia throughout her school year as the poems in verse set the setting for Halloween, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break (even though she is Jewish) and New Years. While her friends are away on vacation and she decides to make a staycation of her own, they communicate their adventures and goings on via email, which sets the tone for teenagers pre-text message time period. The conversations they have are typical of teenage girls about feelings, dreams and advice. Sones does a great job revealing Sophia’s innermost feelings about Dylan the boy she thinks she’s in love with, Chaz the online stranger who she deletes for making her feel uncomfortable and Murphy, who turns out to be her Mr. Right. At the same time, she describes her relationship with her mother which is a quiet and difficult one. The novel in verse is told in first person and has a unique style with the free verse sometimes rhyming, some long and some short pages. The language helps the reader imagine the story and it is easy to read page after page.
EXCERPTS/ AWARDS
ALA Notable Children’s Books 2002
Book Links, 05/01/04
Book Report starred, 03/01/02
Booklist starred, 11/15/01
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 12/01/01
Kirkus Reviews starred, 09/15/01
Kliatt starred, 11/01/08
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, 2002
New York Times, 09/16/01
Publishers Weekly starred, 10/15/01
School LIbrary Journal, 10/01/01
School Library Journal, 10/01/01
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) starred, 10/01/01
Book Report (March/April 2002): “ Female readers of any age will love and identify with Sophie as she weathers the storms of growing up and the scary, unfamiliar emotions that accompany first love.”
Kirkus Reviews starred (September 15, 2001): “...the text gets at the emotional state of this girl so completely and with such intensity that a conventional narrative framework would simply dilute the effect.”
School LIbrary Journal (October 1, 2001): “Sone’s poems are glimpses through a peephole many teens may be peering through for the first time, unaware that other are seeing virtually the same new, scary, unfamiliar things (parents having nuclear meltdowns, meeting a boyfriend’s parents, crying for no apparent reason.”
CONNECTIONS
This novel in verse is perfect for the young adult 12 and up. It can be great for a booktalk about relationships as Sophia struggles with her parents arguing more than she’d like. Being able to talk with others who may be experiencing the same at home can give them a shoulder to lean on and someone to confide in.
A great activity could be for students to write an email to their friends instead of texting their message. This would help them relate to the communication style from the e-mailing days.
Researching Jewish customs and traditions can be an extension to Sophia’s experience growing up.
Han, Jenny. ALWAYS AND FOREVER, LARA JEAN. ISBN 978-1-48143-048-7
Greenwald, Lisa. KALE, MY EX, AND OTHER THINGS TO TOSS IN A BLENDER. ISBN 978-0-399-55639-5
Yoon, Nicola. INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING. ISBN 978-1-52471-899-2
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