ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES by Sonya Sones

I recently just finished reading One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones. I was introduced to this book by my reading teacher, Mrs. Hart. You would think by looking at the title of this book it would just be really depressing throughout the whole book, although it is not. This book is filled with lots of drama and ups and downs of one girl’s life. It is definitely hard to set down this book once you get started. It is written in free-verse poetry, which made it really interesting to read. I found myself flying through the pages of this book, just wanting to read more and more.

            Ruby is a teenage girl whose mom recently died and her aunt, that she is very close to, is traveling all around the world with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, she is forced to move to California to live with her stuck up, movie star dad, that hasn’t even had time to send her a birthday card. Everything about her life seems to be going downhill from there, especially since she is forced to move away from her boyfriend and best friend. The only bright side of the whole situation is the fact that she finally gets to meet her dad after all of these years, although, she’s still not sure if she even likes him or not.  Ruby’s life is definitely going to change, having to start over a whole new life with whole new people.

            The plot development in this book was awesome because it had me turning the pages constantly. There were so many events going on in her life, you just wanted to keep reading more and more about it. Sones did an amazing job with the structure of the book. Sones used a very creative way of writing her book, to keep it interesting.

“Welcome to California!”

He says it like he’s rehearsed it.

But he says it like he means it.

Like he really, really means it.

Well,

So what if he does?

Because I’m here to tell him

That he can’t just ooze out

Onto the stage of my life

And play my father.

Not after Mom did all the hard work

Of teaching me to be a decent human being,

 which is something he obviously couldn’t have done

Even if he’d bothered to try

Since he clearly doesn’t know the first thing

About being one himself.

I’m here to tell him

That this is going to be

The toughest role he’s ever had to play.

I chose this passage from the book because it shows you how Sones used free verse poetry in her writing. In this passage you also got to see how the relationship between Ruby and her dad starts off.  The imagery in this book was also amazing. The way she used great detail in her writing, kept an image in my head throughout the whole book. Sones kept me turning the pages, keeping me hooked to see what was going to happen next.

            I would definitely rate this book a 9. The reason I give this book such a high rating is because I think that everything about this book was awesome! There were rarely any parts of the book where I wanted to put it down, I just wanted to keep on reading. It usually takes me awhile to get though a book, but it took me hardly any time to get through this one. I would recommend this book to all teen readers out there, especially ones who like a little bit of drama.

Reviewed by Hannah Stanaland

8th Grade

**NFMS** Want to learn more about Sonya Sones and her other amazing books? Check out her WEBSITE!