One of those hideous books where the mother dies

Format:

Book

Title:

One of those hideous books where the mother dies

Author:

Sones, Sonya.

ISBN:

9780689858208

9781442493834

9781416907886

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

268 pages ; 22 cm

General Note:

"Book design by Ann Sullivan ; Manufactured in the United States of America"--Title page verso.

Summary:

Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

Reading Level:

Young Adult.

820 Lexile.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader 5.1.

Reading Counts! 5.3.

Subject(s):

Fathers and daughters -- Juvenile fiction.

Moving, Household -- Juvenile fiction.

Grief -- Juvenile fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction.

Homosexuality -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Fathers and daughters -- Fiction.

Moving, Household -- Fiction.

Actors and actresses -- Fiction.

Grief -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Homosexuality -- Fiction.

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Juvenile fiction.

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Juvenile fiction.

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction.

California -- Los Angeles

Genre:

Added Corporate Author:

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers (Firm)

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	YA Fic Sones, S. 2004	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

My name is Ruby
This book is about me.
It tells the deeply hideous story of what happens when my mother dies and I'm dragged three thousand miles away from my gorgeous boyfriend, Ray, to live in L.A. with my father, who I've never even met because he's such a scumbag that he divorced my mom before I was born.
The only way I've ever even seen him is in the movies, since he's this mega-famous actor who's been way too busy trying to win Oscars to even visit me once in fifteen years.
Everyone loves my father.
Everyone but me.

Author Notes

Sonya Sones has written five YA novels-in-verse: To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) , Stop Pretending , One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies , What My Mother Doesn't Know , and its companion, What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know . Her books have received many honors, including a Christopher Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award, and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination. But the coolest honor she ever got was when What My Mother Doesn't Know made it onto the American Library Association's list of the Top 100 Most Banned Books of the Decade (to see why, see p.46). She lives near the beach in southern California, and only tells the occasional fib. Visit her at SonyaSones.com or follow @SonyaSones on Twitter.

Reviews (5)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 7-10-In one- to two-page breezy poetic prose-style entries, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken describes her flight from Boston to California and her gradual adjustment to life with her estranged movie-star father following her mother's death. E-mails to her best friend, her boyfriend, and her mother ("in heaven") and outpourings of her innermost thoughts display her overwhelming unhappiness and feelings of isolation, loss, and grief ("-most days,/I wander around Lakewood feeling invisible./Like I'm just a speck of dust/floating in the air/that can only be seen/when a shaft of light hits it"). Ruby's affable personality is evident in her humorous quips and clever wordplays. Her depth of character is revealed through her honest admissions, poignant revelations, and sensitive insights. This is not just another one of those gimmicky novels written in poetry. It's solid and well written, and Sones has a lot to say about the importance of carefully assessing people and situations and about opening the door to one's own happiness. Despite several predictable particulars of plot, Ruby's story is gripping, enjoyable, and memorable.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

PW called this story of a 15-year-old who must move from Boston to L.A. after her mother's untimely death a "winning portrayal of a teenage girl's loves and losses." Ages 12-up. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Review

After her mother dies, Ruby is forced to move to LA to live with her movie star father, whom she doesn't know and--despite his sincere efforts to win her over--doesn't want to get to know. Sones's window on the celebrity lifestyle offers readers a guilty pleasure, but Ruby's cynical stance grows tiresome in this predictable free verse novel. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

In a story worthy of Hollywood, 15-year-old Ruby moves to LA to join her estranged father, the movie star Whip Logan, when her mother dies. The grieving Ruby, given the fulfillment of many a teen's fantasies, is nothing but sullen at being wrenched away from her Boston home and friends and plunked into the middle of the celebrity district of Beverly Hills with a father she's never known. Short, stream-of-consciousness free-verse poems make up most of the narrative, by turns bathing readers in Ruby's emotions and treating them to very sharp, very funny observations about LA. It's a hugely artificial form, but its free acknowledgment thereof ("my life better not turn out to be like one of those hideous books where the mother dies and so the girl has to go live with her absentee father . . . ") allows the text, and Ruby, to explore the possibilities behind the fantasy. Ruby's eventual adjustment and her rapprochement with her father (cue the violins) will come as no surprise to readers but, hey--this is Hollywood after all, and sometimes a happy ending is exactly what we need. (Fiction. 12+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Gr. 7-12. After the death of her mother, high-schooler Ruby is sent from Boston to L.A. to live with the father she has never met: He's such a scumbag / that he divorced my mother / before I was even born. The scumbag is Whip Logan, a famous movie actor, but Ruby is too angry to be impressed; at the airport she wonders whether to ask him for his autograph, / or kick him in the balls. Sones' latest free-verse novel follows Ruby through her first few months in her new home, a mansion where her every desire is granted--except what she longs for most: her best friend, her boyfriend, and of course, her mother. Sones' novel is an unusual combination of over-the-top Hollywood fairy tale and sharp, honest story about overcoming grief. Teens may predict the novel's surprises long before Ruby discovers them, including a revelation about Whip's sexuality, and, as in every fairy tale, many things are too good to be true--especially Whip's eager devotion and celebrity. 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. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist