STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sones, Sonya. 1999. STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

PLOT SUMMARY

When 13 year old Cookie's older sister has a mental breakdown on Christmas Eve and is admitted to the psych ward, Cookie is forced to adjust to a new life.  Suddenly, her own mother, father, and sister all seem like perfect strangers to her as the family tries to deal with this new "normal."  Through verse, Sonya Sones takes the reader on the emotional roller coaster Cookie travels on as she worries not only about her sister, but what everyone will think of her once they find out about her sister's illness.  Cookie visits her sister often in the hospital hoping to reconnect with the sister she now considers a stranger.    

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

STOP PRETENDING is a powerful novel written in verse that grabs the reader’s attention on the very first page and keeps them engaged to the end.  Sonya Sones tells this complicated and painful, yet touching story though a series of short poems that contain an array of raw emotions.  Each poem takes the reader inside the painful realities that families face when they are challenged with mental illness.

Sones uses short lines in her poems that are often a page or less in length, but filled with honest emotions and powerful words.  In the shortest poem, "The Truth Is," the reader gets a glimpse into Cookie's innermost feelings as she visits her sister in the hospital - "I don't want to see you./ I dread it./ There./ I've said it."  Longer poems that include more details are also included and add to the story.

Throughout the book imagery is used to help the reader understand what Cookie goes through.  In "During History Class," for example, Sones uses careful language to paint a heartbreaking picture of Molly writing a note about Cookie's sister and passing it around class to several other girls who "giggle", "stifle laughs", "grin", and "snicker" as they each read it.  Cookie is able to get the note which says "COOKIE'S SISTER IS CUCKOO" and has a picture of a girl that has crossed eyes and wild hair below the words.  Cookie says "I cram the note/into my pocket/and pray for the bell to ring/so I can escape/before anyone sees my face./ I hate them all."  The reader feels Cookie's pain as she deals with this awful situation.

When Cookie spends time with her sister in the hospital, she often remembers how their relationship used to be before she got sick.  Although she starts to accept her new relationship with her sister, she never gives up hope that her sister might eventually get better.  The poems vividly take the reader though Cookie's state of depression over her sister's condition to one of acceptance and hope for her entire family's future.

The author's note explains the background of this emotional story and includes a list of resources to get help dealing with mental illness.  The events in STOP PRETENDING were based on Sones' sister who was eventually able to overcome her manic-depressive diagnosis, but still struggles at times and is continuously treating her disease.  Knowing that this is based on the real events of Sonya Sones' life only enriches an already powerful story.  

AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

Review Excerpts:

"In a story based on real events, and told in poems, Sones explores what happened and how she reacted when her adored older sister suddenly began screaming and hearing voices in her head, and was ultimately hospitalized. Individually, the poems appear simple and unremarkable, snapshot portraits of two sisters, a family, unfaithful friends, and a sweet first love. Collected, they take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale and presenting a painful passage through young adolescence." -Kirkus, 1999

"Based on the journals Sones wrote at the age of 13 when her 19-year-old sister was hospitalized due to manic depression, the simply crafted but deeply felt poems reflect her thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams during that troubling time." - School Library Journal, 1999

Awards:

Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry

Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award

Gradiva Award for Best Poetry Book

CONNECTIONS

Discussion questions to use with kids while reading the book - http://www.sonyasones.com/books/stop/readguide.html

Frequently Asked Questions of Sonya Sones including how she got the idea to write STOP PRETENDING and how she started writing novels in verse- http://www.sonyasones.com/FAQs/faq001.html#stop

A note to educators from Sonya Sones about what they can do to help students who have family members going through mental illnesses - http://www.sonyasones.com/books/stop/teachers.html

Other books by Sonya Sones also written in verse:

-ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES  ISBN: 1416907882 

-WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW   ISBN: 1416907882 

-WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW  ISBN: 0689876025  

Young adult book on mental illness:

-I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAZY. By: Samantha Schutz  ISBN: 043980518X