Review: What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

THE FACTS: 

            Title: What My Mother Doesn’t Know

            Author:  Sonya Sones

            Publication Date:  2001

            Pages:  272

Round of applause: 2002 ALA Best Book for Young Adult, 2002 ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, 2003 International Reading Association Young Adults' Choice

SUMMARY:

            This novel, narrated in verse, follows14 year-old Sophie’s thoughts as she navigates from love-interest to love-interest until finally arriving at an unlikely “Mr. Right.”  Along the way Sophie deals with other issues:  her Jewish identity, her mother’s depression, her father’s absence, her changing body and all the other friend drama that generally plagues young teens.  Through her chronological poetry, she explores the events of her life, her feelings about them, and, inevitably, comes to realize the importance to true human connection.

E’S 2 CENTS:

            I would scarcely call what Sones has produce poetry, or at least good poetry, but there is something innovatively effective about her use of verse.  While not particularly substantive in content, What My Mother Doesn’t Know absolutely mirrors the internal activity of an adolescent girl’s mind and heart.  The ups, the downs, the wanting but not wanting, the deception, the injustice, the miscellaneous emotion—it definitely struck a chord of recognition with me.  Somehow the first-person verse illuminates Sophie’s thought (and emotional) process better than regular prose could.  It also makes for a quick read (no wonder this is a top pick for reluctant readers).  Beyond providing adolescent girls with a reflection of themselves in verse form, however, I didn’t think this book amounted to much.  Sure, Sophie deals with some greater issues than just boy-girl drama, but overall the story lacked depth and complexity.  The fact that it was banned gives What My Mother Doesn’t Know some additional appeal, but the ‘deplorable’ reference that granted Sones’ book this status seems so trivial that I’m not enticed by its censorship in the least.  (Is a passing reference to masturbation so incredibly lewd?  Really?  Especially when the character supposedly engaging in such behavior is colored as a total creep?  …that hardly counts).  I give Sones props for generous and comprehensive website (geared a little more toward young teen readers/writers… but check it out here), but What My Mother Doesn’t Know didn’t really do it for me.  If you’re looking for a quick “Oh I’ve SO felt that way!” zone out book, it’s worth a read.  In most other contexts, I give it an apathetic “eh…”


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