caitlingb's review against another edition
4.0
I got this from a scholastic book fair when I was maybe in 5th grade and enjoyed it. The story is told completely in the form of sequential poems.
jjrae's review against another edition
3.0
It's in verse, just so you know. Really, it makes it much better. It's about a girl whose older sister has a mental breakdown. She struggles with accepting it and with trying to feel normal again at school and as a family. I like it. Sones has to be really precise with what she says and how to describe things, so it gets really creative in some places. It's a super fast read, so I wouldn't normally buy it (plus that cover is awful) but if you're into verse, this is a good pick.
graceduren's review against another edition
5.0
beautiful. giving as a gift to everyone with a sister
alexblackreads's review against another edition
4.0
This book is beautiful. I always enjoy Sonya Sones and she has a really lovely writing style, but I especially adored this one.
While all of her novels are written in verse, this one felt the most like straight poetry to me. There definitely is a narrative, but I feel like where a lot of her other novels are story first and poetry second, this one is a book of poetry set around a general theme. Her sister is hospitalized and these poems are more feelings than straight narration. I loved it.
The emotions are so strong in this book. It had me tearing up at points because it is sad, but Cookie feels so real. She's just a kid dealing with this situation and it's not always melodramatic or the worst thing happening, but it is her life. Sones is great at capturing small moments that really touch your heart.
It's such a short book and I kind of do wish there was a bit more length to it. That's the main reason it's stuck at four stars for me. 150 pages of poetry is not a lot of time and I flew through this in about twenty minutes. I loved it so much I just wish there was a little bit more of it to round out the story some more.
But this was fantastic, as are most of her books. If you like YA contemporaries and novels in verse, I'd highly recommend picking this up. It's such a lovely book and captures the struggles of a younger sister so well.
While all of her novels are written in verse, this one felt the most like straight poetry to me. There definitely is a narrative, but I feel like where a lot of her other novels are story first and poetry second, this one is a book of poetry set around a general theme. Her sister is hospitalized and these poems are more feelings than straight narration. I loved it.
The emotions are so strong in this book. It had me tearing up at points because it is sad, but Cookie feels so real. She's just a kid dealing with this situation and it's not always melodramatic or the worst thing happening, but it is her life. Sones is great at capturing small moments that really touch your heart.
It's such a short book and I kind of do wish there was a bit more length to it. That's the main reason it's stuck at four stars for me. 150 pages of poetry is not a lot of time and I flew through this in about twenty minutes. I loved it so much I just wish there was a little bit more of it to round out the story some more.
But this was fantastic, as are most of her books. If you like YA contemporaries and novels in verse, I'd highly recommend picking this up. It's such a lovely book and captures the struggles of a younger sister so well.
jhahn's review against another edition
4.0
Took about 2 hours to read tops. Good portrayal of how it must feel for the sibling of someone with mental illness.
briar_rose_reads's review against another edition
5.0
*Review also posted at Briar Rose Reads
I was fourteen when I found this book hiding on the shelves of my small-town library. My mother had had a psychotic break when I was six weeks old, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized. For as long as I could remember, I had been tiptoeing around the gaping hole in my life. I knew hardly anyone else in the same situation.
This is the book that told me I wasn't alone. In beautiful, wrenching, spare poetry, Sones paints a picture of a child's life, lived in the shadow of a mentally ill loved one. Her anger, confusion, grief, love, and resentment bleed onto the page, as vividly as I remember from my own childhood. This is the book that told me it was okay to feel all those things at once.
I will always love it for that.
I was fourteen when I found this book hiding on the shelves of my small-town library. My mother had had a psychotic break when I was six weeks old, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized. For as long as I could remember, I had been tiptoeing around the gaping hole in my life. I knew hardly anyone else in the same situation.
This is the book that told me I wasn't alone. In beautiful, wrenching, spare poetry, Sones paints a picture of a child's life, lived in the shadow of a mentally ill loved one. Her anger, confusion, grief, love, and resentment bleed onto the page, as vividly as I remember from my own childhood. This is the book that told me it was okay to feel all those things at once.
I will always love it for that.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very short read, which consisted of a series of poems. While it wasn't outstanding I thought it would be a great book for a adolecent that was having to deal with mental illness within their family or friends. Two of the poems spoke out to me and I guess each individual that reads this would have a different combination.
SBC: Non fiction component of fiction/non fiction pair (mental illness as topic).
SBC: Non fiction component of fiction/non fiction pair (mental illness as topic).
iamshadow's review against another edition
5.0
Subheaded "What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy", this book was written based on Sones' own diaries from her teens. Sones' writing style is blank verse, rather than prose, and this medium for me was very effective in conveying the emotions she felt, including anger, hope and grief. A powerful work, easily readable and aimed at teens (though definitely recommended by me for older readers too) Stop Pretending is a book that will make you think, that families of people with a mental illness and people with a mental illness themselves will identify with.