What My Mother Doesn't Know

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4.3 (24)

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Author(s)

Sonya Sones

Publisher

Simon & Schuster

Genre(s)

Poetry

Age Range

14+

ISBN

0689855532

Buy This Book

My name is Sophie.

This book is about me.

It tells

the heart-stoppingly riveting story

of my first love.

And also of my second.

And, okay, my third love too.

It's not that I'm boy crazy.

It's just that even though

I'm almost fifteen

it's like

my mind

and my body

and my heart

just don't seem to be able to agree

My name is Sophie.

This book is about me.

It tells

the heart-stoppingly riveting story

of my first love.

And also of my second.

And, okay, my third love too.

It's not that I'm boy crazy.

It's just that even though

I'm almost fifteen

it's like

my mind

and my body

and my heart

just don't seem to be able to agree

Editor reviews

2 reviews

An Authentic Verse Novel

February 23, 2012

Overall rating

5.0

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

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Learning Value

N/A

What My Mother Doesn’t Know gives an awesome insight into the mind of a typical high school freshman.

The novel follows Sophia through her romantic travails, her first being with Dylan, one of the cutest boys in school. From the first time they lock eyes until their final tears, the reader rides all of Sophia’s emotional waves. Sones is particularly adept in describing the feeling when you realize you don’t like someone romantically anymore, and the awkwardness that it brings. Sophia’s relationships felt realistic and similar to the ones my students will have.

A highlight is Sophia’s relationship with her best friends, Grace and Rachel. While neither of those characters is well-developed, their friendship is loving and fun. The girls provide a foundation for Sophia that is more supportive than the one she receives from her quarreling parents. They feel true to silly, wonderful adolescent friendships, whether they are popping each other’s pimples or treating a newly single friend to a movie.

I was surprised to learn that What My Mother Doesn’t Know was one of the most frequently challenged books of 2004 and 2005, due to a poem where Sophia describes her body’s reaction to the cold. While the book skews mature for my current class of sixth graders, I think there is so much to gain from adolescents reading this book. I also highly recommend it to mothers, who will benefit from seeing life through a teen’s eyes.

Good Points

Sonya Sones knows how adolescents feel.
Sophia's friendships and relationships felt so real.

Megan Kelly Top 50 Reviewer 112 reviews

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User reviews

24 reviews

5 stars

50%

4 stars

33%

3 stars

13%

2 stars

1 star

Overall rating

4.3

Writing Style

4.3(24)

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This beats any girl teen novel that focuses on the guy

July 24, 2010

Overall rating

5.0

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Reader reviewed by Daisy

Every girl can relate. Rather it be the dressing room incident, "Sapphire", or just high school in general, it shows that girls aren't all vain and lemmings. Yet while at times, like say at a dance or during "a cotton pony" ride, it shows all girls feel the same Sones expresses it in a cute, charming, witty way.

Guest #1 Reviewer

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Like Peeking Into a Diary

August 17, 2009

Overall rating

3.0

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Reader reviewed by mearley

A realistic portrayal of a teenage girl's emotions and thoughts as she navigates friendships and boyfriends. Everything is very raw and honest, much like reading the diary of a 15-year-old. For that reason, there have been challenges to this book. However, I believe this is appropriate for 8th grade and above so we are keeping it in the library, especially because Sophie ultimately makes good decisions--breaking up with boys when things get too intense or when she realizes the relationship is only based on physical attraction, and later ignoring what would be a "popular" thing to do and instead following her heart.

Reprinted here with author's permission

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great book

July 28, 2009

Overall rating

5.0

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Reader reviewed by Nicole

This book was fantastic! i loved this book. It was funny and witty. It is about a girl who is in love with these three guys and it is funny and i really recomend it for all teenage girls because it is a great book and you will love it. It is also a very short read too.

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great book

May 05, 2009

Overall rating

3.0

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Reader reviewed by sarah

what my mother dosnt know is a great book. it relates to real girls and what we think about. Sophie is a bacic 15 year old girl trying to get a real boyfriend who likes her for her. along the way she meets a bad boy who she thinks she likes. i defiently recmend this book its great for girls everywhere

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a teenage girl

March 03, 2009

Overall rating

4.0

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Reader reviewed by Gladys

this is about a teenage girl named Sophie,the book tells about things every teenage girl out might not tell her mom about like Sophie: her first love second and third. in the book she describes her relationships as she tries to find Mr. Right.

Sophie has 2 friends shes afraid they will make fun of the guy she likes she met him at the dance while her friends were off on vacations her friends were excited to meet the guy.she finds out love has nothing to do with looks or superficial things and what her friends think.

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hilarious. but not for ur mother!

December 21, 2008

Overall rating

4.0

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Reader reviewed by Courtney

I liked this book. i thought it was hilarious cover to cover. murphy and sophie were so easy to fall in love with. theree love for each other. i would recomended this book to anyone in love with a boy. and has those secrets that u keep to yourself. but u can connect with sohpie and how she feel for murphy.

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"What My Mother Doesn't Know" is how it is

December 05, 2008

Overall rating

5.0

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Reader reviewed by Yan

Written in a free verse format of poems, each chapter is a page that talks about Sophie's life and love. Every page is a new surprise that can be translated smoothly from one page to the next. This book is a delicate breath of fresh air that can be easily devoured in one sitting. And trust me-that one hour or so is do worth the time to read this book.

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What I as a mother didn't know

September 14, 2008

Overall rating

4.0

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Reader reviewed by Dede

Told from a teenagers point of view, it is a good book to remind parents and children of what it is like. Sofie has had boyfriends, Dylan being her latest, and she talks about her life, family, boyfriend, and feelings in this book. At first with Dylan, everything is thrilling, but then it becomes boring. They break up. Sofie talks about how her mom watches soap operas all day and ignores her, how she knows her dad loves her even though he works late and doesn't hug her. Along with her two best friends, life is teenage paradise and angst. She finds herself thinking about Murphy, an unpopular boy in school and starts talking to him during a summer. They go places together and find that have similar interests and that they get eachother. The book teaches that it's not how one is perceived to be that matters, it's how people come together and like eachother because they fit, even when they didn't think they would. Very cute book.

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good read

August 26, 2008

Overall rating

4.0

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Reader reviewed by tricia

Sopthie is on a quest for love! or loves. First there was lou who she got over fast, then dylan who is sexy and a great kisser but he gets old and boring to be around.

Then there is Chaz.Sophie is really starting to like Chaz, who she is talking to over the internet, when she discovers he isnt so nice.And then there is the masked man she meets at a school dance who sweeps her off her feet,Lastly there is murphy, who sophie is having thoughts about, but she doesnt want too because he ugly and a loner.

what will happen? will sophie meet her masked man, will she do something about murphy, or will she be fine with being alone?

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Want a book with a head-spinning style?

January 31, 2008

Overall rating

5.0

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Reader reviewed by Melissa

What My Mother Doesnt Know, by Sonya Sones, sounds like a pretty suspicious title, but trust me, there really is not anything inappropriate except a kiss or two, but you see that in the halls, so no big deal. Written by Sonya Sones and in nothing but odd poems about a girl named Sophies first, second, and eventually leading up to an unexpected third and strong love, Murphy. This was a book that I easily read in one sitting, no problems, even as we drove in the car, I could not put it down for a minute or even a second.

This book has an innovative style, not just the poems, but how strange Sophie is makes her seem almost completely normal (even her self-consciousness toward her being tall), it really helps you breeze through the story and even see why she acts like she does.

Sophie eventually finds that she can not stop thinking of a not-exactly handsome boy, and his loneliness, and for some reason, kissing him.
Just the plain sweetness of Murphy, despite the fact he is completely silent in class, despite the fact that his name has become a description for being a goof and a nerd, that people do not even call him by his first name, that Sophie will not even tell her own friends or mother that he is more than a friend; he is still willing to throw a smile a persons way out of the kindness of his heart.

I, and certainly you, cant help but get involved with the story.

Guest #1 Reviewer