Synopses & Reviews
It happens just like that, in the blink of an eye. An older sister has a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. A younger sister is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief and friends who turn their backs on her. But worst of all is the loss of her big sister, her confidante, her best friend, who has gone someplace no one can reach.
In the tradition of The Bell Jar, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and Lisa, Bright and Dark comes this haunting first book told in poems, and based on the true story of the author's life.
2000 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA) and 2000 Quick Picks for Young Adults (Recomm. Books for Reluctant Young Readers)
Review
“Stop Pretending is a tour de force debut. It celebrates truth-telling, and has a purity and passion that speaks to the heart.” Boston Globe
Review
“The poems have a cumulative emotional power.” ALA Booklist (starred review)
Review
“Unpretentious. Accessible. Deeply felt.” School Library Journal
Review
“The poems take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Sensitively written.” The Horn Book
Review
“Heartfelt.” KLIATT, starred review
Review
“Beautiful and disturbing.” barnesandnoble.com
Review
“Intense…Blank verse is perfect for a story with such heightened emotion.” Amazon.com
Review
“This debut novel shows the capacity of poetry to record the personal and translate it into the universal.” Chicago Tribune on Lucy Sullivan
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
As a teenager Sonya Sones spent hours pouring her private thoughts and feelings into journals. Her passion for writing, drawing, and photography led her to begin making animated films when she was seventeen. She studied filmmaking in college, and went on to teach animation, make films for public television, and edit movies in Hollywood. She lives with her husband and two children near the beach in California. Stop Pretendingis her first book.