I finally found the sequel!

These 14 year olds get around. Seriously. Sex was the farthest thing from my mind when I was 14. I was trying not to get beat up and made fun of, not trying to find my next piece of ass.

gah!

But I like books written in poems. So that's good.

I had to look up La Bal a Bougival. I had no idea what they were talking about. Which is awful because I love art and whatnot. Find a picture of the painting helped make parts of the book make more sense.

Teenagers suck.

( )

It's so
Amazing
Unbelievable
What a great
Story this is
( )

Summary:
This book picks up where What My Mother Doesn't Know left off, only this time it's from the perspective of Sophie's boyfriend, Robin. It's written in free verse poems. Robin knows that his two weeks of dating Sophie in private were worth it, and definitely worth waiting 14 years for his first kiss. He is pleasantly surprised when she decides to sit with him at lunch. Her friends are shocked to find out who she has been dating, and he noticed that Sophie seems disappointed with their reaction. While the whole school stares at them in the hallway together, Sophie comforts him and tells him she's happy about what they have together. Robin can't help but feel guilty for all the teasing she is enduring for dating him. Robin and Sophie spend time together enjoying each other's company, and Robin finally feels like a somebody. Someone who is interesting. He overhears some kids using his last name, Murphy, as an insult (a tradition that began when he first moved to Boston), and all his insecurities come rushing back. He thinks about how he doesn't feel comfortable talking to his parents about it because he doesn't feel they'll understand, even though he knows they care. Robin overhears Sophie in the library talking to her friends as they urge her not to commit "social suicide" and he feels humiliated. Robin and Sophie continue to be bullied and berated for their relationship, and they continue to try to laugh it off. Robin's art teacher offers him the opportunity to audit a Harvard art class, and he and Sophie get really excited about it. He gets nervous for his first day though, and feels very out of place in a college setting. However, the people in the class treat him more fairly and accept him. Robin is shocked, however, when he realizes that they will be sketching a nude model in his art class. He feels like he is betraying Sophie. After they find crude drawings in both the boys and girls bathrooms, Robin and Sophie decide to have lunch outside to avoid people. The bullying is starting to put a strain on their relationship, but after school when they can be alone together, they are incredibly happy. Robin reflects on his physical relationship with Sophie and how difficult it is to control his body. Robin is really enjoying his art class, but what he likes the most is the way that people interact with him, like him, enjoy being around him, and one woman even flirted with him. He enjoys his time in the art class because he doesn't feel like a loser. In the hallways at school, he hears other kids use Sophie's last name as an insult too. He decides that he has to break up with her so she'll stop being bullied. Sophie convinces him that they can stay together and make it through this. They love each other and that's all that matters. Finally, Sophie's friend Rachel decides to be friends with her again, and Robin is relieved. But soon he realizes that it's not him and Sophie against the world anymore, and he feels left out. As Sophie starts to make more plans with Rachel, Robin spends more time with people from his art class, people he considers to be his first real friends. He starts to develop a crush on another girl in the class, a young genius who managed to get into Harvard at the age of 15. At her birthday party, they kiss. The next evening, he decides to tell her that he wants to stay faithful to Sophie, and she kisses him goodbye and goes home. Sophie sees them kissing, and gets upset with him. Robin decides to plant Valentine's gifts in all of Sophie's classes to make up for it. When she doesn't meet him after class, he goes to the museum to look at their favorite painting. He finds that it is no longer there. Sophie comes up behind him, and they sit together on the bench and sketch. She smiles, and seems to forgive him. The book ends.

Personal Reaction:
I loved this book as well. It's nice to see the other side of the story.

Classroom Extensions:
1. Visit art museum
2. Come up with an anti-bullying campaign
3. Discuss peer pressure and role-play scenarios to resist it ( )

Overall a solid book. I personally did not identify well with the characters, but I realize there are people out there who would.
I'm not sure I would use this in a classroom, although the overall message against bullying is pretty strong. ( )

Again, Sonya Sones brings a great novel in the form of poetry. What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know is the sequel to Sones’ free-verse novel What My Mother Doesn’t Know, and was a great addition to the first book.

It was a little weird going from book one to this book because of the POV switch from Sophie as the narrator to it being told by Robin, but in time I grew to like him, as well. I feel that Sones was able to capture the mindset of a teenage male accurately, and that’s part of the success of this book. While I didn’t like his voice all the time or some of the decisions made in the story, I feel that Robin did things how even I would have at that age.

The way Sones uses poetry to tell a story, rather than prose, is what makes her writing so enjoyable to me. There might be a lack of word count, but there’s just as much depth to what the sparse pages hold for the reader. I also liked how there were a few poem/chapters that were “concrete poems,” which used words to create a picture instead of just having the words describe the subject.

I continue to be pleased with Sones’ work and can’t wait to see what else she has written. ( )