What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
What My Mother Doesn’t Know #1
Published February 2003 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Rating: 4/5
Summary: 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
on anything.
Review: I am so glad I picked this book up. I first discovered this book on goodreads while looking for other books written in verse but I didn’t really hear that much about it. So when I saw this book sitting on my library bookshelf, I figured, why the heck not.
What My Mother Doesn’t Know is simple, concise and brilliant. I’ve only read one book in verse (that being Ellen Hopkin’s Crank) a few years ago and I’d have to say it is one of the most interesting way to tell a story. If you’re unfamiliar with books written in verse, it’s kind of like a poem or well, a verse where stories are told in a few short verses (think song verses – except it’s a story!)
The premise of What My Mother Doesn’t Know has been done before. It is your average high school teenager falling in love/come-of-age book. But what’s different about this book is that it’s simple and goes to the point. Sophie tells you about her days in simple verses and it’s such an easy read that you’ll just fly through it. Although the plot has been done before or the character is rather cliche, it didn’t once deter me from continuing on reading it. Simply because the way it’s written is so engaging and Sophie’s voice is so true to what a high school teenager is (admit it, we’ve all been there) you can’t help but keep reading the book. The element of verse made the story-telling a lot more fun because with verse there’s not really a ‘structure’ to keep to, unlike a regular book. It’s not long paragraphs and fancy words but just simple short structures and sometimes
it
looks
like
this.
Such fun.
What My Mother Doesn’t Know was also banned/challenged for it’s offensive language and sexually explicit content. I could see why it was challenged but there are worst books out there than this and it isn’t as bad as it sounds. As always, I would say that you should be of age or y’know, make sure your parents are okay with the content inside before picking it up. But if you’re older etc., I would recommend you to pick this book up. You will just fly through it!
I picked up it’s sequel/companion book What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know as well and have just finished it so you can look forward to a review on that soon!
pretty bookmarks 