Publishers Weekly
Returning with a sequel to the well- received What My Mother Doesn't Know, Sones delivers another engaging story about young love, this time from the boy's perspective. This free-verse novel opens with 14-year-old Robin worrying that he will soon be dumped by his girlfriend, Sophie (star of the previous book), who is being ostracized at school for dating "the guy whose last name people use as a diss." ("Let's face it./ I'm the type of guy/ who doesn't even have any buddies/ on my buddy list," Robin says.) But Sophie is her own person and together they form a plan to rise above the derision by laughing at themselves. Robin is believable and endearing as he struggles to make sense of his devotion to his "amazing girlfriend," his nascent sexuality and his attraction to Tessa, a girl in his art class at Harvard who is refreshingly unaware that he is the butt of jokes at his high school. When Sophie catches him kissing Tessa, Robin has to do something dramatic to win her back. Concrete poems and comics punctuate the text, adding interest to the form. The author's fans will be delighted to have a new installment written with the same raw honesty and authentic voice as the original. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 12-up. (June)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up
This sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know (S & S, 2001) stands completely on its own. Robin's life at Cambridge High School is miserable. The arty outsider's last name becomes the pejorative slang of the school-as in, "Don't be such a Murphy." His lot improves, however, when popular Sophie becomes his girlfriend despite the detriment to her reputation. Better still, the freshman is invited to audit an art class at Harvard. It is his homecoming; for once, he is the comedian rather than the butt of jokes. One of the college freshmen even shows some romantic interest in him. Written as a novel in verse, this title is a fast-paced, page-turning romp that gives authentic voice to male youth even when it is painfully truthful.
—Leah KrippnerCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Six years after What My Mother Doesn't Know sizzled onto the scene, Sones returns to continue the story of teen sweethearts Sophie Stein and Robin Murphy. Her signature free-verse poems give class-loser Robin voice this time, allowing him to describe his feelings as Sophie's public acceptance of him makes her a social pariah; as he explores the physical and emotional roller-coaster of first love; as he remakes himself from outcast to one-of-the-cool-crowd when he audits a Harvard art class-and finds himself attracted to one of that cool crowd. The excruciatingly painful dynamics of the high-school in-crowd receive a thorough treatment, as does Robin's ambivalence with them: He recognizes Sophie's pain at her rejection by formerly close friends, but at the same time, he understands that this very rejection makes her need him all the more. Robin emerges as an appealingly flawed character whose desires-for love, for acceptance, for sex-will be instantly recognized by readers. If this offering lacks some of the intensity of its predecessor, it nevertheless provides both an opportunity to revisit two likable characters and the advantage of a fresh viewpoint. (Fiction/poetry. YA)
