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Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy
Continuously in print for nearly two decades, this groundbreaking and profoundly moving story told in verse, from award-winning author Sonya Sones, has been repackaged with a striking new cover and bonus content.
When her beloved older sister is hospitalized after a sudden mental breakdown, Cookie is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief, friends who shun her, and her fear that she, too, might one day lose her mind.
Based on award-winning author Sonya Sones’s own true story, this novel explores the chilling landscape of mental illness, revealing glimmers of beauty and of hope along the way. Told in a succession of short and powerful poems, it takes us deep into the cyclone of the narrator’s emotions: despair, anger, guilt, resentment, and ultimately, acceptance.
When her beloved older sister is hospitalized after a sudden mental breakdown, Cookie is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief, friends who shun her, and her fear that she, too, might one day lose her mind.
Based on award-winning author Sonya Sones’s own true story, this novel explores the chilling landscape of mental illness, revealing glimmers of beauty and of hope along the way. Told in a succession of short and powerful poems, it takes us deep into the cyclone of the narrator’s emotions: despair, anger, guilt, resentment, and ultimately, acceptance.
145 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 1999
79 people are currently reading
5490 people want to read
About the author
Sonya Sones
17 books764 followersSONYA SONES has written seven young adult novels in verse: Stop Pretending, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, To Be Perfectly Honest, Saving Red, and The Opposite of Innocent.
Her books have received many awards, including a Christopher Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination and a Cuffie Award from Publisher’s Weekly for Best Book Title of the year. But the coolest honor she ever received was when her novel, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, landed her a spot on the American Library Association’s list of the Most Frequently Banned Authors of the 21st Century. (To find out why, see page 46.)
Sonya has also written a novel in verse for grownups—the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus, a coming of middle-age story about learning to grow old disgracefully, which was optioned by Michelle Pfeiffer, and has contributed poems and short stories in verse to lots of anthologies.
Her books have been recognized by the American Library Association as Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks For Reluctant Young Readers, and have received a dozen state awards for Best Young Adult Book of the Year.
Her books have received many awards, including a Christopher Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination and a Cuffie Award from Publisher’s Weekly for Best Book Title of the year. But the coolest honor she ever received was when her novel, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, landed her a spot on the American Library Association’s list of the Most Frequently Banned Authors of the 21st Century. (To find out why, see page 46.)
Sonya has also written a novel in verse for grownups—the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus, a coming of middle-age story about learning to grow old disgracefully, which was optioned by Michelle Pfeiffer, and has contributed poems and short stories in verse to lots of anthologies.
Her books have been recognized by the American Library Association as Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks For Reluctant Young Readers, and have received a dozen state awards for Best Young Adult Book of the Year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 627 reviews
May 23, 2008
Stop Pretending is a story of a young girl that suffers from a mental disorder. She grew up as a normal girl in a loving family and had an excellent relationship with her younger sister. Suddenly, she starts hearing voices in her head. It gets so out of control that she must be placed in a mental institution. The story is actually not told through the eyes of this girl, but by the younger sister, Cookie. It is an extremely emotional story written in free verse. Cookie recalls memories with her sister that happened during their childhood and explains how she feels now that it is all gone. Her words and her imagery, like her sister’s empty bed, are so powerful that they can bring the reader to tears. When Cookie visits her sister, they can’t even play a simple board game without her sister getting out of control. Eventually, the doctors attempt shock therapy to cure the sister, but there is a risk that it will erase all of her past memories.
December 19, 2016
This book was great! A few parts were pretty confusing but once I read it over a couple of times it made more sense.
March 22, 2010
I seem to be alone in my adoration of Sonya Sones, because my reading buddies don't really share my love of "What My Mother Doesn't Know," but what can you do?
"Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Sister Went Crazy" is my 3rd Sones book and once again, the writer manages to touch me emotionally, and this is a sure sign of great writing for me. Based on Sones' personal experiences, this book is a collection of poems about a 13-year old girl whose older sister unexpectedly experiences a nervous breakdown and is placed in a psychiatric institution. The story deals with the aftermath of this tragedy - emotional turmoil, guilt, anger, denial, and finally reconciliation.
This is a very short book, much shorter than "What My Mother Doesn't Know" and "What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know" that I enjoyed more, but not less touching and poignant. The poems are innocent and honest and emotionally powerful.
Some might find this book a little childish I suppose, but it worked for me perfectly. I will definitely read Sones again.
"Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Sister Went Crazy" is my 3rd Sones book and once again, the writer manages to touch me emotionally, and this is a sure sign of great writing for me. Based on Sones' personal experiences, this book is a collection of poems about a 13-year old girl whose older sister unexpectedly experiences a nervous breakdown and is placed in a psychiatric institution. The story deals with the aftermath of this tragedy - emotional turmoil, guilt, anger, denial, and finally reconciliation.
This is a very short book, much shorter than "What My Mother Doesn't Know" and "What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know" that I enjoyed more, but not less touching and poignant. The poems are innocent and honest and emotionally powerful.
Some might find this book a little childish I suppose, but it worked for me perfectly. I will definitely read Sones again.
February 14, 2024
i need to stop reading random books based off the cover.. i did not know i picked up a book full of poems.
which i do not regret!! how did this make me realize i don’t hate poetry!!!!
love it though reccomend to everyone ever.
which i do not regret!! how did this make me realize i don’t hate poetry!!!!
love it though reccomend to everyone ever.
Read
November 17, 2017This book is good but depressing. Don't get me wrong its a beautiful story told in poetry but just depressing. Its a story about how a girl so innocent goes insane in an instant. A family so pure and full of life gets pulled apart but finds there way back together.
April 12, 2017
I'm not into poetry but this type of poetry was put into a story about her sister going insane. It really drew in my attention about how it was designed and written.
June 4, 2008
People often write about what it's like to experience mental illness, but witnessing it is hardly ever writen about. Stop Pretending is the story of a girl who watches her sister decend into desperation, and the confusion that comes with watching someone you care about become unfamiliar to you. The book is written in a series of poems that paint a picture of the internal struggles she went through. It was interesting to watch the girl begin to question herself based on her sister's experiences. Everything she knew was changing, and that changed the way she saw herself and her family. However, it wasn't a very complex book. The ideas were simple, and I think it could have gotten deeper into the girl's mind. Even though she was confused and lost, the book was very elementary. I think that took away from the drama that was going on. It didn't represent the situation as well as it could have, but it still makes you think. Overall, I think the book was pretty medeocre.
June 19, 2025
This is a novel in verse (though, because it's so short, I feel it could more accurately be called a short story or novella, but that's me nitpicking). It's autobiographical fiction inspired by the author's life.
The story is told from the perspective of 12-year-old Cookie, whose teenage sister develops mental illness and spends time in an institution. The story, to many reviewers' chagrin, focuses on Cookie's experience watching her sister change and her family fall apart, rather than on the sister's experience.
I appreciated that the book revolves around the relationship between sisters, as so many books (especially YA) don't.
There were a few poems that I really liked, and a couple toward the beginning that even made me cry. Overall, poetry is still not for me.
There was brief sexual content that would have been better omitted.
There was also a spoiler for the book A Wrinkle in Time.
The story is told from the perspective of 12-year-old Cookie, whose teenage sister develops mental illness and spends time in an institution. The story, to many reviewers' chagrin, focuses on Cookie's experience watching her sister change and her family fall apart, rather than on the sister's experience.
I appreciated that the book revolves around the relationship between sisters, as so many books (especially YA) don't.
There were a few poems that I really liked, and a couple toward the beginning that even made me cry. Overall, poetry is still not for me.
There was brief sexual content that would have been better omitted.
There was also a spoiler for the book A Wrinkle in Time.
November 27, 2017
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy was okay. I really am not a ginormous fan of poetry unless is pretty old (for example, I love Edgar Allan Poe), but this book had a good subject. It was meaningful, and that made it somewhat good. It was a good, quick read, but one I never would have picked up if not required by my class. I recommend it to lovers of poetry.
March 16, 2017
My overall rating would be 3.5 stars.
This book was really good, and definitely a poetry book for me, since I usually do not like poetry at all. it shows a really amazing story, and I enjoyed most of it quite well.
Although, I don't really trust that kid, John, even though he didn't do anything at all. In fact, he was pretty cool. But I guess movies have just fogged my mind not to trust attractive new kids. *Cough cough* Jason Dean *cough cough*
I really should have finished the book sooner, since it's really short, but oh well. The reason I didn't give it a full 4 stars is because the ending really left me hanging, it was a good ending, but I'm still curious what happened to all of the characters. And also the fact that it was super tiny, so there wasn't as much of a storyline as I felt there could have been.
This book was really good, and definitely a poetry book for me, since I usually do not like poetry at all. it shows a really amazing story, and I enjoyed most of it quite well.
Although, I don't really trust that kid, John, even though he didn't do anything at all. In fact, he was pretty cool. But I guess movies have just fogged my mind not to trust attractive new kids. *Cough cough* Jason Dean *cough cough*
I really should have finished the book sooner, since it's really short, but oh well. The reason I didn't give it a full 4 stars is because the ending really left me hanging, it was a good ending, but I'm still curious what happened to all of the characters. And also the fact that it was super tiny, so there wasn't as much of a storyline as I felt there could have been.
November 4, 2009
This is one of my favorite Book's because this book taught me alot one of the things that this book taught me was No matter what happens keep your head up high this book is really intresting is about a girl that her big sister had a nervous break down && now every one says she unormal just because her sister turn a lil bit crazy && people that she thouqht would be there for her was never there they just left her all alone with no body support buht her parents this also taught me that dont care about what people think or say about you just be confident about your self. =)
October 8, 2020
3.5
This was pretty good, it was just hard to relate to the main character due to the fact that I'm more likely to be in the sister's position than in hers. I'll definitely recommend this to someone who's impacted by a sibling's mental health, though.
This was pretty good, it was just hard to relate to the main character due to the fact that I'm more likely to be in the sister's position than in hers. I'll definitely recommend this to someone who's impacted by a sibling's mental health, though.
August 11, 2018
I first read this when I was a pre-teen and I loved it then.
2018 Re-read:
Content Warnings: (unchallenged) ableism including the use of derogatory terms to describe someone diagnosed with a severe mental health disorder; (unchallenged) normalization of mental illness as a burden on one's family; and (unchallenged) underdeveloped parenting skills
Why I Recommend Bumping This DOWN On Your TBR:
It might be important to note that I'm a mental health professional, and that has a huge impact on my analysis of this work. While I understand that wanting to create art to validate individuals who share your experience is important, I do not condone the portrayals of persons diagnosed with mental health disorders as burdensome or heartbreaking. I respect discussing the grief experiences of family members, but I don't feel like this work paid enough respect to mentally ill individuals. The author's note seems to be the healthiest part of this book, but at that point it's too little too late.
Additionally:
There are a couple of parts that were very cleverly written, and the experience of the parents was thought-provoking.
2018 Re-read:
Content Warnings: (unchallenged) ableism including the use of derogatory terms to describe someone diagnosed with a severe mental health disorder; (unchallenged) normalization of mental illness as a burden on one's family; and (unchallenged) underdeveloped parenting skills
Why I Recommend Bumping This DOWN On Your TBR:
It might be important to note that I'm a mental health professional, and that has a huge impact on my analysis of this work. While I understand that wanting to create art to validate individuals who share your experience is important, I do not condone the portrayals of persons diagnosed with mental health disorders as burdensome or heartbreaking. I respect discussing the grief experiences of family members, but I don't feel like this work paid enough respect to mentally ill individuals. The author's note seems to be the healthiest part of this book, but at that point it's too little too late.
Additionally:
There are a couple of parts that were very cleverly written, and the experience of the parents was thought-provoking.
January 6, 2017
I wasn't expecting this book to be as good as this. In a way it was similar to Backlash because at times sister was the main perspective and that is what Stop Pretending is about. I thought the book was great and had no idea the entire time I was reading it that it was true. The author kept diary entries and when she was older turned them into a book. When I was reading I could picture everything because the author was amazing at telling what she was feeling.
January 17, 2019
Powerful book written in free-verse poetry about mental illness and the impact it has on loved ones.
A couple of pages get a little mature for a young reader, so the ideal grade level would be a minimum 7th-8th.
A couple of pages get a little mature for a young reader, so the ideal grade level would be a minimum 7th-8th.
February 17, 2017
I think it was really good and it went by pretty fast. I read this book in one day and I only had to go back and read it again at the beginning once. It is about a girl who has a sister who is a little bit in her mind, and the book is about the girl watching her sister grow into a crazing person. The sister went into a crazy person with out any warnings, so she was heart broken when she realize this. She has to deal with friends, classmate, boy friends and her parents. It also goes back in time to the good days when her sister didn't lose her marbles. I think it is like a diary, but in poetry form. I think anyone who likes a quick story should read this book.
February 12, 2017
This was a pretty good book, but it was sad how the main character felt about her sister literally going crazy, and she felt she couldn't do anything about it. Towards the end of the book, it started to get better.
February 13, 2013
Sonya Sones is masterful at packing emotion into few words. Verse fiction demands that, as well as cadence and sensory detail. STOP PRETENDING is based on true events when Sones was young and her older sister suffered a mental breakdown. I was overwhelmed with the honesty and heart in these verses. Having mentally unstable family members myself I found this book to be moving on a personal level and important on a universal level.
Sones shows moments of her sister's scary and unpredictable actions, memories of childhood love, fear of how changed her parents are, lonliness as classmates turn away. The book ends with hope and understanding, which is all any of us could ask for.
Here are snippets to show writing style:
This comes when Sister says she feels like Alice in Wonderland: "She wishes/ she could get small enough/ to float right out through the keyhole/ of that six-inch-thick iron door/ on a sea of her own tears."
And this: "When I used to wake up frightened/ in the middle of the night,/ Sister would come/ and sit on the edge of my bed/ until I fell back to sleep./
Now no one is there/ in the middle of the night, / no one for me/ and no one for her."
Sones shows moments of her sister's scary and unpredictable actions, memories of childhood love, fear of how changed her parents are, lonliness as classmates turn away. The book ends with hope and understanding, which is all any of us could ask for.
Here are snippets to show writing style:
This comes when Sister says she feels like Alice in Wonderland: "She wishes/ she could get small enough/ to float right out through the keyhole/ of that six-inch-thick iron door/ on a sea of her own tears."
And this: "When I used to wake up frightened/ in the middle of the night,/ Sister would come/ and sit on the edge of my bed/ until I fell back to sleep./
Now no one is there/ in the middle of the night, / no one for me/ and no one for her."
May 6, 2012
Katie Young
Poetry
This book is a collection of short, poignant poems written by Sonya Sones when she was 13 and her 19 year old sister went crazy one Christmas Eve. The poems tell the story of her life through this tragic event and vividly describe her feelings, thoughts, fears, and hopes for herself, her sister, and her family. The poems take the reader from her adoration of her beautiful and smart older sister and then to her breakdown and hospitalization. When her sister begins to recover, Sonya begins to write about normal things like her boyfriend and friends at school.
This book is eloquently written in free verse poems which tell Sonya’s disturbing yet heartrending story. At the end of the book, Sonya included a list of contact information for organizations which specialize in mental illness.
I absolutely loved this book. It allowed me to step into Sonya’s shoes and live a small part of her life with her. The raw emotions portrayed through free verse works. It is a must read for all young adults.
Poetry
This book is a collection of short, poignant poems written by Sonya Sones when she was 13 and her 19 year old sister went crazy one Christmas Eve. The poems tell the story of her life through this tragic event and vividly describe her feelings, thoughts, fears, and hopes for herself, her sister, and her family. The poems take the reader from her adoration of her beautiful and smart older sister and then to her breakdown and hospitalization. When her sister begins to recover, Sonya begins to write about normal things like her boyfriend and friends at school.
This book is eloquently written in free verse poems which tell Sonya’s disturbing yet heartrending story. At the end of the book, Sonya included a list of contact information for organizations which specialize in mental illness.
I absolutely loved this book. It allowed me to step into Sonya’s shoes and live a small part of her life with her. The raw emotions portrayed through free verse works. It is a must read for all young adults.
October 13, 2016
Twelve-year-old Cookie's older sister is hospitalized following a psychotic breakdown on Christmas Eve. The preteen and her family come to terms with the mental illness as Cookie also finds her first love.
One of the inherent difficulties of prose novels for me has always been embracing a well rounded character. I never felt like I truly knew who Cookie was, except for the sister of a mentally ill individual.
Sonya Sones never really showed us the characters, instead mostly told the story. I enjoyed her simple verse and could feel some of Cookie's emotions, but wanted more from this very short story non-short-story. At barely over 100 pages in verse, STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY isn't much of a story and doesn't really have an ending, it just stops.
One of the inherent difficulties of prose novels for me has always been embracing a well rounded character. I never felt like I truly knew who Cookie was, except for the sister of a mentally ill individual.
Sonya Sones never really showed us the characters, instead mostly told the story. I enjoyed her simple verse and could feel some of Cookie's emotions, but wanted more from this very short story non-short-story. At barely over 100 pages in verse, STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY isn't much of a story and doesn't really have an ending, it just stops.
May 15, 2013
For me, I didn't much care for the story as a whole. Things didn't really "work" as an overall arc for this one.
That being said, some of the poems on their own are nothing short of gorgeous and heart-wrenching and wonderful. This one's parts were definitely better than the sum of the whole. And since it's all written in verse, actual poems, not just free-verse nonsense that should really just be regular paragraphs like some other authors I know *cough, cough*... it only take a little bit to read through, and finding those sections/poems that punch you in the gut and make your heart bleed, well, they make the whole book worthwhile.
That being said, some of the poems on their own are nothing short of gorgeous and heart-wrenching and wonderful. This one's parts were definitely better than the sum of the whole. And since it's all written in verse, actual poems, not just free-verse nonsense that should really just be regular paragraphs like some other authors I know *cough, cough*... it only take a little bit to read through, and finding those sections/poems that punch you in the gut and make your heart bleed, well, they make the whole book worthwhile.
June 2, 2008
Stop Pretending was an interesting but confusing book. I had to re-read that book over and over and i still dont get some of it. I liked how the family started to go and visit the one who went crazy. I also felt bad for the "normal" sister because she wasnt getting the attention that she wanted. I also liked how she kept the advice she got from her teacher. I hated how all her founds like disowned the "normal" friend because her sister went crazy. I think that people shouldnt care if they were really your friends they should have accepted it.
May 12, 2017
this is a story about a girl named cookie, that struggles with her sister ,boys, and school. some of the characters are cookie, her parents, her sister, and her "boyfriend" john. so the basic plot is that her sister goes crazy and ends up in a syce ward. when she's recovering from that she gets sexualy harrased by her best friends big brother. her best friend spreads it around. then she meets john. i didn't really like that she was so negitive about everything, but i do like her rude humor. i would recoomend this book to people who like drama, romance, and emotional books.
June 10, 2008
Sonya Sones has a great gift for creating novels in verse that read like someone whispering truth in your ear.
Read
March 11, 2021Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones is a below average book that has many problems. I give this book a two out of five stars because of the lack of interesting characters and overall story line. The full title of the book is, What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. I think this is a poor title for a book only talking about one specific person 95% of the time. This book is below average because of the lack of interest it brings to me, the plot, and the story line.
Stop Pretending is about a thirteen year old girl whose older sister gets hospitalized on Christmas Eve when she has an intense breakdown that she later is diagnosed as manic depression. The girl is in shock after seeing her breakdown because she was confused. She never saw her sister has this psychopath. She later claims she lost her identity with her family just because of her sister flipping out and losing her mind. She feels alone and as she hits rock bottom, she forces herself to find new friends and it actually works. She claims to be happy for the first time since her sister’s hospitalization. She then finds a boyfriend which helps her through her sister’s sickness and fighting her parents.
This book just overall doesn't seem appealing to me at all and I feel like I’ve almost read books with this story in it, but much more. Other books have these characters in it with these life problems with much more and a bigger picture, while this book just had a couple characters and a depressed sister is all. This book focused on one specific thing throughout the whole book and just lost my interest a couple pages in. There was no interesting plot and was a burden to keep reading. The story line is terrible because of the lack of explanation of characters as well. We knew nothing about the main character. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone and think it is a waste of time. I didn’t get anything out of this book and would maybe place this book as one of the worst I’ve ever read.
Stop Pretending is about a thirteen year old girl whose older sister gets hospitalized on Christmas Eve when she has an intense breakdown that she later is diagnosed as manic depression. The girl is in shock after seeing her breakdown because she was confused. She never saw her sister has this psychopath. She later claims she lost her identity with her family just because of her sister flipping out and losing her mind. She feels alone and as she hits rock bottom, she forces herself to find new friends and it actually works. She claims to be happy for the first time since her sister’s hospitalization. She then finds a boyfriend which helps her through her sister’s sickness and fighting her parents.
This book just overall doesn't seem appealing to me at all and I feel like I’ve almost read books with this story in it, but much more. Other books have these characters in it with these life problems with much more and a bigger picture, while this book just had a couple characters and a depressed sister is all. This book focused on one specific thing throughout the whole book and just lost my interest a couple pages in. There was no interesting plot and was a burden to keep reading. The story line is terrible because of the lack of explanation of characters as well. We knew nothing about the main character. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone and think it is a waste of time. I didn’t get anything out of this book and would maybe place this book as one of the worst I’ve ever read.
March 13, 2018
Cookie's adopted sister turned crazy but a couple days before that she seemed fine not even a hint what might've happened the day she went crazy. She kept it a secret from her friends for a while and she decided to tell them, at first they were understanding then they spreaded rumors about her and her sister said "Cookie's sister is CUCKOO". She stopped being friends with them and tried to help her sister get better. She was in a physcoward and they visited her like everyday. One day Cookie met the new boy named John and they started talking and they went out on dates and one their walk home he kissed her and they started dating. Cookie asked if he would like to meet her sister and he didn't refuse and when Cookie's sister saw him she acted normal. A couple days after that they did the shock treatment which you most likely couldn't remember a whole lot the first couple days but Cookie kept talking to her about how much fun they use to have. In the end, Cookie and her parents went to visit her and they played scrabble and she made up a word and her parents made us words after, Cookie kept a word and it was "Better" to represent that their family was all better. This is one of my new favorite books and it was very emotional. I rate it 5 stars because the details and the format of the book. I recommend to everyone who loves to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2022
I Wonder
Does the
man who wanders
the neighborhood, wearing
three heavy overcoats in the
swelter
of the summer, have a
little sister who lies
awake at night wondering where
he is?
This was a beautiful collection of poetry. I was completely engrossed from start to finish. I only have one qualm, and that is the issue of calling mentally ill people crazy. It doesn't sit right with me at all. But that's really it. The entirety of this book was perfectly written and I am so happy this book fell of the shelf in the library one day (true story).
My Sister's Christmas Eve Breakdown
One day
she was my big
sister, so normal and
well-behaved, the next she was a
stranger
rushing out the door to
Midnight Mass, a wild-eyed
Jewish girl wearing only a
nightgown.
One day
he was my dad,
so calm and quiet and
in control, the next he was a
stranger
dragging
my big sister
away from the door, up
the stairs, screaming so loud that my
ears stung.
One day
she was my mom,
so reliable and good in
a crisis, the next she was a
stranger
standing stock still with her
hands clamped over her mouth
and her eyes squeezed shut, not even
breathing.
That day
I sank into
the wall, wondering what
these three people were doing in
my house
and I
shouted that they
had to stop, even though
I wasn't supposed to talk to
strangers.
Does the
man who wanders
the neighborhood, wearing
three heavy overcoats in the
swelter
of the summer, have a
little sister who lies
awake at night wondering where
he is?
This was a beautiful collection of poetry. I was completely engrossed from start to finish. I only have one qualm, and that is the issue of calling mentally ill people crazy. It doesn't sit right with me at all. But that's really it. The entirety of this book was perfectly written and I am so happy this book fell of the shelf in the library one day (true story).
My Sister's Christmas Eve Breakdown
One day
she was my big
sister, so normal and
well-behaved, the next she was a
stranger
rushing out the door to
Midnight Mass, a wild-eyed
Jewish girl wearing only a
nightgown.
One day
he was my dad,
so calm and quiet and
in control, the next he was a
stranger
dragging
my big sister
away from the door, up
the stairs, screaming so loud that my
ears stung.
One day
she was my mom,
so reliable and good in
a crisis, the next she was a
stranger
standing stock still with her
hands clamped over her mouth
and her eyes squeezed shut, not even
breathing.
That day
I sank into
the wall, wondering what
these three people were doing in
my house
and I
shouted that they
had to stop, even though
I wasn't supposed to talk to
strangers.
April 6, 2021
Stop Pretending is a book about a 13-year old girl named Cookie who is dealing with the fact that her sister "went crazy." Cookie's parents are constantly either fighting or sad, and spend very little of their time with Cookie. For most of the book, the poems are about how Cookie can't stop thinking about her sister, Cookie losing all her friends, and Cookie wishing things would return to the way they were. Cookie is then told that if she smiles more, she will make more friends. Cookie tries this and it works. She starts making friends, starts dating, and is happier. The poems about her sister show up less and less, and the ones that do pop up are more positive than the ones before. Cookie's sister gets shock treatment for her mental illness and the book ends with the family playing scrabble. I really enjoyed Stop Pretending. It was short, taking me only an hour and a half to read, and had a good message. I was a little disappointed in the ending but other than that I thought the book was great. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a short book that has a good message.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2018
Short and poignant. I am personally more of a fan of tightly formatted rhyming verse but the flyaway style of this poetry works well with the emotional narrative it’s telling. An interesting look at how it feels to be the ‘normal one’ in a family where big sister has gone crazy. At turns funny, sweet and touching, Sonya Sones doesn’t hold back the realism’s of being a teenager in such a chaotic world.
I think this book could easily be used to kickstart conversations with young adults about mental health and how we interact with it. It touches on the stigma of a mental break-down from a very young perspective - she doesn’t see it as stigma as much as she is terrified of being judged or found wanting by her peer mates. Anything that finds a different way to engage people in the issues that surround mental health is good in my books.
A quick and easy read that is sharply poignant considering the length and format of the book. The real emotions bleed through as does the confusion, fear and shame.
I think this book could easily be used to kickstart conversations with young adults about mental health and how we interact with it. It touches on the stigma of a mental break-down from a very young perspective - she doesn’t see it as stigma as much as she is terrified of being judged or found wanting by her peer mates. Anything that finds a different way to engage people in the issues that surround mental health is good in my books.
A quick and easy read that is sharply poignant considering the length and format of the book. The real emotions bleed through as does the confusion, fear and shame.
April 24, 2020
I liked this book, yet found it a little strange. I felt like the transition at the end of the book was a bit rushed, with not too much information or events placed in between the poems about her boyfriend and the shock therapy. However, I enjoyed the way the author used her writing to convey the rollercoaster of the situation she was describing. For example, at the beginning of the book, the author explained things in a very rational and seemingly organized way. However, towards the end of the book, the author’s thoughts seemed to jump around a lot both during the poems and in the themes behind the poems themselves. I also enjoyed the use of free verse poetry to portray the main theme of the book, which I considered to be “family is forever.” The author used this freeing and open genre to create a wide variety of descriptions for the events taking place. Throughout the book, many different writing styles and techniques were used, and this added a more alluring quality as well as a greater sense of interest to the story. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but found some areas where the transition between subjects seemed a bit forced or strange. I would recommend this book to those looking for a quick, easy read that covers a darker and less happy subject.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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