Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/One-of-Those-Hideous-Books-Where-the-Mother-Dies/Sonya-Sones/e/9781416907886/?itm=4&usri=Sonya+Sones, accessed November 21, 2009.
Bibliography
Sones, Sonya. 2004. ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689858208
Critical Analysis
In this touchingly real verse novel, we meet fifteen year-old Ruby whose mother has just died of caner. When the story begins she is flying across the country to live in Los Angeles with her faher whom she has never met. Ruby thinks she knows everything she needs to know about her movie star father: he left before she was born, he hasn't tried to contact her all these years, he lives in "Hell-A." Ruby has resolved that she will not like her father, Whip Logan. She treats him horribly, and he silently takes her abuse. But she is not prepared for the fact that under different circumstances, she might actually like her father. He collects classic cars, has made her room her "dream room" and has Cameron Diaz for a neighbor. He also has a really great personal assistant, Max, whom Ruby really loves. Ruby is enrolled in a private school where many celebrities children attend and as the school year progresses, she begins to find a home in Los Angeles. When a boy that attends her school is killed in a car accident, the effect on Ruby is palpable. The night of the accident Ruby has a dream that her mother calls her and tells her to "Get out of the House!" When she wakes from the dream she puts on her clothes and walks to the "Tree of Death" where her classmate died. Whip follows her here and as he envelopes her in a hug and she cies for the first time since her mother's death, an earthquake hits. What follows are some important discoveries about Whip, Ruby and the past. Ruby finds that he is quite the different person than she was led to believe. Sones writes with a poetic plot-driven style that wondrously connects each new character to the next event in the story. The story addresses friendship, betrayal, stereotyping and parent-child relationships in such a way that readers will find refreshing. Young adults will be drawn to the page-long chapters, believable first-person narrative and memorable characters.
Review Excerpts
ALAN REVIEW: "Ruby Milliken shines as a saga unfolds from the mind of a teenager in this fast-paced novel of vibrant emotions and high drama. Ruby is a fifteen-year-old who has just lost her mother, home, and reason for living. She moves across the country to live with her movie star father leaving behind her boyfriend, Ray, and best friend, Lizzie. A look into the mind of Ruby is like boarding a jolting roller coaster as she thrives on impulsive decisions and peaks of emotion."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "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."
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