One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Ruby Milliken's mother just died and now she has to move across the country to live with her scum-bag moviestar father, Whip, who divorced her mother before she was even born. Ugh, what a hideous way to start a book. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies is a novel written in verse by Sonya Sones. Ruby's poems and emails tell the story of what happens when she has to leave her aunt, best friend and boyfriend behind and move across the country to live with her father in his giant Hollywood mansion. She finds it difficult to fit in with the students of the L.A. school because they're used to having celebrities for parents. She's not used to it at all. She also finds it difficult to live in her father's shadow and to get used to his trainers and personal assistants and chefs and even him being around all the time, since he abandoned her and all....

Gillian Engberg (Booklist, May 1, 2004 (Vol. 100, No. 17)) says of One of Those Hideous Books... "It's Ruby's first-person voice--acrimonious, raw, and very funny--that pulls everything together, whether she is writing e-mails to her deceased mother, attending Dream Analysis class at a private L.A. high school, or finally learning to accept her father and embrace a new life. A satisfying, moving novel that will be a winner for both eager and reluctant readers."

Since this is a novel written in verse, it's great for reluctant readers and also those just looking for something quick to read. Sonya Sones has written several other books in verse, like What My Mother Doesn't Know, which would be great to share with teens who enjoyed this one. (I liked it so much that I accidentally read it in one night!)

Sones, Sonya. 2004. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689858208

(I wanted to share one of my favorite moments from the book, but since it's kind of long, I decided to place it here at the end.)

Grand Entrance

So much for trying to keep / my celebrity-daughter status a secret. / You should have seen the heads swivel / when we walked in here together. / It was like something out of The Exorcist. / And I bet you'd barf if you could see / how these women in the administration office / are falling all over themselves right now, / fluttering around Whip like a flock of butterflies on X. / They're telling him how grateful they are / for his generous donation / and how delighted they are that he's volunteered / to be the auctioneer at their second annual Noisy Auction . and how they're sure he'll draw / an even bigger crowd than Hanks did last year. / They're offering him mocha lattes / and Krispy Kreme doughnuts / and some kind of fruit that I've never even seen before. / And I'm sitting here right next to him, / crossing my eyes, sticking out my tongue, / and wiggling my ears. / But no one seems to be noticing me. / (Okay. So I'm not really doing any of that. / But they wouldn't be noticing. / Even if I was.) (69)