Stop Pretending
what happened
when my big
big sister went
crazy
by
Sonya Sones
Summary
A novel told in verse, Stop Pretending details the events in the life of author Sonya Sones as a young girl when her older sister, whom she adores, is suddenly struck with mental illness which results in long term hospitalization. The poems chronicle life before the illness and the ensuing damage done to a family when one member slips away into an altered reality.
My Thoughts
Stop Pretending is the first novel in verse I have ever read. I found it much more enjoyable than a book of poems each with a different subject and theme. It is great to be able to follow such an intimate story told through poetry. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it did leave me wishing that I had more of the story. I am excited to have a new type of book to explore. Some poetry I love, but there is much that I don't enjoy. The story linking a novel in verse keeps me interested and in the case of Stop Pretending, the story flowed so easily I almost forgot I was reading poetry.
Reviews
"This debut novel shows the capacity of poetry to record the personal and translate it into the universal." --ALA Booklist
"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
Suggested Activities
I would have students write a mini-novel in verse either using a particularly memorable time in their lives, or just chronicling the past year as a whole.
I think Stop Pretending could be used as a great discussion of how we each pretend at times in our lives that things are fine when in reality we feel our world crashing in. I think it would be a great experiment to have students for one day answer honestly to anyone who asks "How are you?". We could then discuss the reaction of the person who asked and talk about things we ask other people without wanting the truth.
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