What My Mother Doesn't Know

What My Mother Doesn't Know (2001) is a novel in verse by Sonya Sones. The free-verse novel follows ninth-grader Sophie Stein as she struggles through the daily grind of being a freshman in high school, her romantic crushes, and her family life. It has been translated into French, German, Indonesian and Swedish,[1][2] and published as an audiobook read by Kate Reinders.

What My Mother Doesn’t Know
First edition
AuthorSonya Sones
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult
PublisherSimon & Schuster
Publication date
2001
Media typePrint Hardback
Pages272 pp
ISBN978-0-689-85553-5
OCLC51733502
Followed byWhat My Girlfriend Doesn't Know 

Plot summary

At the start of the novel, Sophie finds herself dumped by her current boyfriend Lou, then immediately falls into a new relationship with Dylan, a boy considered the height of masculine beauty by her friends. As they date, Sophie discovers she does not really love or even like Dylan all that much and ends their relationship in favor of not actually liking his personality. She then forms a secret romance with an internet chat-room boy named Chaz.

Before she meets Chaz in person, Sophie discovers he is a pervert and ends the relationship quickly. Now on her own, in real life, she encounters an outcast classmate, Robin Murphy, at the local art museum and is astonished to realize that while he is not physically attractive or liked by her friends, she falls in love with him. The book ends with Sophie choosing to sit with Robin in the cafeteria instead of her friends, knowing that revealing her secret relationship to her friends and classmates would be okay.

The companion book What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, written from the perspective of Sophie's boyfriend Robin (Murphy), was published in 2007.

Reception

Pages Magazine stated the novel "captures the sweet confusion of being a teen girl in love for the first time. And the second. And the third." School Library Journal said "Sones is a bright, perceptive writer who digs deeply into her protagonist's soul... Sones's poems are glimpses through a peephole many teens may be peering through for the first time, unaware that others are seeing virtually the same new, scary, unfamiliar things."

Controversy

The novel appears on the ALA’s list of most frequently challenged books in 2004,[3] 2005,[4] and 2011.[5][6]

Awards
  • Winner of the Iowa Teen Book Award (2005–2006)
  • Michigan Thumbs Up Award Honor Book (2002)
  • Chosen an American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults (2002) .
  • Chosen an American Library Association Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2002)
  • Named an International Reading Association Young Adults' Choice (2003)
  • Named a Booklist Editor's Choice (2001)
  • Voted a VOYA Top Shelf for Middle School Readers (2003)
  • Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award: YA Recommended Title (2003–2004)
  • Named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age (2002, 2003, and 2004)
  • Named a Texas Lone Star State Reading List Choice (2003–2004)
  • Named a Top Ten Editor's Choice by Teenreads.com (2001)
  • Named a Bookreporter.com Best of 2001 for Teens

See also
  • List of most commonly challenged books in the U.S.

References and footnotes
  1. WorldCat. Retrieved 2016-04-09
  2. Goodreads. Retrieved 2016-04-09
  3. "Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2004". Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  4. "Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2005". Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  5. "2011 Most Frequently Challenged Books List and BBW Materials now available through the ALA Store!". Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  6. "No Telling What My Mother Doesn't Know". Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  • Author's web site
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