1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya.. 1999. STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY. New York: HARPERTEMPEST. ISBN 9780064462188
2. SUMMARY
In the most excruciatingly sorrowful, poignant and emotion-laden manner, Sonya Sones carries us through the journey of her older sister’s fall into debilitating mental illness. From the tender age of twelve we see through younger sister’s eyes as the family of four becomes a family of three, as her older sister takes up residence in a psychiatric facility. We are drawn in line by line, poem by poem, through the uproar and turmoil caused in the family, and in the shifting social relationships the knowledge of her sister’s illness causes in young Sonya’s school. We are given flashes of brightness when good days come by, the rage and sorrow that flow through the poetry of anger that cannot help but be felt by her parents, and even poems of new love and joy as the protagonist finds an accepting love who is able to see her family’s flaws and love her just the same. While normalcy isn’t reached at the end of the verse novel, one can feel the healing that has begun, and hopes for the best for the family, and any others struggling with the same issues.
“My sister gives her a high five.
It’s my turn.
I look around the table
At my whole family
And put down BETTER.”
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
“I can
remember what
things were like before she
got sick; my whole family climbed
into
the big
hammock on the
moondappled beach, wove
Ourselves together, and swayed as one.”
From the first two stanzas of the first poem on the first page of the book, the reader is overwhelmed with a sense of unwinding, of coming apart, of fraying. While no one rhythmic pattern is carried throughout the book, Sones’ relatively short-lined, terse representations of the emotions welling through her adolescent self during the years her sister fell-prey to the worst affects of her fight with manic-depression are a perfect match between form and function. Rhyming is not often seen in the novel, though there are internal rhymes to be found occasionally; “Sister’s in the psycho ward and when I visit, I glance toward the other patients’ twisted faces, quaking fingers, frightened eyes, wishing I could somehow break her out of here…”
The poetry is rich with the sounds, sights and smells of the mundane of life when amplified by the conspicuous absence of a loved one;
“knowing my father is sitting in there
in the dark
staring at the flickering screen,
too weary to talk
or even sit in silence
next to someone on the couch”
This was a book I simply couldn’t put down. The story, every ounce of it told through the poetry of Sones, had as much rich detail and drama as a thousand-page novel. This book is an excellent choice for readers of nearly any age from young adult and up.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies 2001
National Council for SS &Child. Book Council and 2000 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
2000 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)2000 Quick Picks for Young Adults (Recomm. Books for Reluctant Young Readers)
Review in teenreads.com: “Read individually, each poem seems ordinary enough, but when read all together --- their collective power is breathtaking. Many of the poems can be difficult to read, but the book ends on a high note, with all four family members playing a very irregular game of Scrabble. Similar to Karen Hesse's Newbery Award-winning OUT OF THE DUST in its use of blank verse, STOP PRETENDING speaks to the power of images and is a compelling and provocative memoir.”
Review in KIRKUS REVIEWS: “The form, a story-in-poems, fits the story remarkably well, spotlighting the musings of the 13-year-old narrator, and pinpointing the emotions powerfully. She copes with friends who snub her, worries that she, too, will go mad, and watches her sister’s slow recovery. To a budding genre that includes Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust (1997) and Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Make Lemonade (1993), this book is a welcome addition.”
5. CONNECTIONS
*Partner this book with a Health and Life skills unit on mental health or family, including inviting in a class speaker to help clarify understandings of mental illness and its presence and stigma in society. This activity is most appropriate for high school students.
*Have students engage in a journaling activity for one month, after which they too will create a short verse novel of their own poems. Students wishing to may have their books published for reading in the classroom or school library.
Other verse novels focusing on loss, life struggles and seeking normalcy in family:
Herrick, Steven. BY THE RIVER. ISBN 9781932425727
Hopkins, Ellen. CRANK. ISBN 9781416995135
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