Review of WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya. 2001. WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW. New York: Simon & Schuster.
ISBN 9780689841149

PLOT SUMMARY
Sophie is a typical teenage girl who has many ideas about love, life, friends, and family. She wanders through a series of loves, both lost and found, as she looks for the one that she calls "Mr. Right and a half". As an only child she is quite close to her two best friends, Grace and Rachel. She worries about acceptance by her boyfirend's parents when they are introduced. (She is Jewish and he is not). But when she finds the one boy that she considers "The One" she realizes that he, too, has experienced many rejections and that the heart is where you should look first.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Pre-teen and teenage girls should enjoy this book as they will likely be able to relate to many of the ups and downs that Sophie experiences. A book in verse, it reads fairly fast and the material is relevant to the issues that young girls experience today. Sophie's parents fight a lot and she is always concerned about her father leaving and her mother watching TV more than paying attention to her. She defies her mother and regrets it at a later date. She goes through a series of boyfriends, and wonders what she saw in each of the previous ones. Her firends go away for Christmas and she is left alone over the winter break from school when she not only discovers her city again, but a new love that she previously overlooked and even made fun of.
Boys will not likely enjoy this book, so librarians and book sellers may want to keep that in mind when recommending selections.

REVIEW EXCERPTS-

School Library Journal-"Sone's book makes these often-difficult years a little more livable by making them real, normal, and OK."

Kirkus Reviews-"...a verse experience that will leave teenage readers sighing with recognition and satisfaction."

CONNECTIONS

Sones, Sonya. 2008. WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW. ISBN 9780689876035

Sones, Sonya. 2005. ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES.

ISBN 9781416907886