WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T KNOW

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)