What My Mother Doesn't Know

Author: Sonya Sones
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0689855532
ISBN-13: 978-0689855535
Year Published: 2003
No. Pages: 259
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Free Verse
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Zabrina


What My Mother Doesn't Know is a free verse novel about a fifteen-year-old girl named Sophie. She struggles like every young women with the idea of love. She falls in love with Dylan, the boy of her dreams. Soon, Sophie realizes that he isn't who she thought him to be and that she was in love with his good looks. Since his actions speak louder than words, Sophie starts an online romance in an attempt to find something else. Then she moves on to Murphy, the schools outcast. Sophie spends every minute with him but how can she tell her friends that she likes the biggest dork in the school? If she doesn't tell them, she is just like those who make fun of him. What will she do?

What My Mother Doesn't Know is a novel about finding yourself and accepting who you are. Sophie learns to trust herself, her choices and her friends. Sonya Sones captures the nervousness of dating, uncertainty of first loves, and the heartbreak of ending an relationship. As a teenager, I too struggle with finding my inner strength and learning to love who or what I want.

Sones makes Sophie realistic by the way she makes her talk, act and feel. Sophie also makes mistakes that most teenagers make like valuing beauty and popularity over happiness. Her regrets and imperfections not only make Sophie more realistic but relatable. Sophie reflects many teenage girls past and presents. I can identify with Sophie because I too don't always make the best choices and in time hope to learn from my mistakes.

Written in free verse Sones is a great poet. She can capture so many different emotions with more details and fewer words using a real cut to the bone style. Sones writes in first person narrative. She digs deep into her protagonist's life and easily wins over the reader by sharing the lives of the character and her problems problems.

This novel was a quick read and I couldn't put it down. I rated it a 10 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone who likes reading about first loves, enjoys poetry and who simply wants and quick, great read.