What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know

by Sonya Sones
PRMS paperback 291 pages
genre: YA prose poetry, romance, realistic fiction

I often recommend Sones' books to my students, but this is only the second one I've read. Told from the boy's point of view, this is a "response" of sort to the Sophie story What My Mother Doesn't Know. Robin Murphy can't believe he is dating Sophie Stein and he worries that she will dump him. When their romance continues, but her former friends start being cruel toward her, he wonders what he should do. He is a talented artist and making friends with other artists at Harvard (he's a high school freshman). That was my favorite part of the story . . . his artwork and the cartooning that he and Sophie did together.

page 168

And Even if I Did Tell Them

They'd probably just say something like,
"We trust you implicitly."

And you know what's really annoying about that?
They actually do trust me.

And, frankly, that pisses me off.
Because, I mean, I'm a teenager.

They aren't supposed
to trust me.

But it's like they think I'm such a loser
that I'd never do anything wrong.

Which sort of makes me feel
like doing something wrong.

Just to show them.


Ah, teenagers. This book reminds me of where they're at developmentally and emotionally. It was a quick read. I removed it from the collection because it's too tattered. I think I have another copy on the shelf. Prose poetry really works well for some readers. Mostly because there's less text on the page . . .