
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy
Sonya Sones
Her brilliant sequence of poems describes the night her 19-year-old sister suddenly turns into a screaming stranger and is taken away to a psychiatric hospital. She portrays a loving family torn apart by grief; the ordeal of hospital visits; the anxiety of a 13-year-old that her friends will reject her if they find out, or that this could happen to her too; and finally her acceptance that her life has been forever changed. This is a stunning book in the tradition of THE BELL JAR. It is the first by Sonya Sones, whose poems evoke an ordinary teenager's shattered world with powerful intensity. Deeply human and affecting, and very readable, this is an inspirational book that speaks to adults just as much as teenagers.
- Publisher
- Orion Children's Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781842550465
- Genre
Awards
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult LiteratureShortlisted(1999)
Other awarded books from Sonya Sones
Sonya Sones has no other awarded or shortlisted books yet.
If you liked Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy, you could also like these

My Sister Rosa
Justine Larbalestier
0 wins · 2 score

Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir
Nikki Grimes
0 wins · 3 score

Sisters
Daisy Johnson
0 wins · 2 score

The Ha-Ha
Jennifer Dawson
1 win · 12 score

My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite
1 win · 11 score

The Ecstatic
Victor LaValle
0 wins · 4 score

The House No One Sees
Adina King
0 wins · 3 score

Bright Red Fruit
Safia Elhillo
0 wins · 5 score

A Dark and Starless Forest
Sarah Hollowell
1 win · 7 score

And We Stay
Jenny Hubbard
0 wins · 3 score

Gone Wolf
Amber McBride
1 win · 5 score

Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
0 wins · 5 score

The Girls
Emma Cline
1 win · 7 score

Girlhearts
Norma Fox Mazer
0 wins · 2 score

When You Look Like Us
Pamela N. Harris
0 wins · 2 score
Similar Topics

The Ha-Ha
Jennifer Dawson
1 win · 12 score
Mental illnessComing of age
Magic or Madness
Justine Larbalestier
1 win · 8 score
Coming of ageMental illness
Carry Me Down
M. J. Hyland
0 wins · 4 score
Coming of ageMental illness
The Ecstatic
Victor LaValle
0 wins · 4 score
Mental illnessComing of age
Swallow Me Whole
Nate Powell
0 wins · 2 score
Mental illnessComing of age
The Book of Mother
Violaine Huisman
0 wins · 2 score
Mental illnessComing of age
Milkman
Anna Burns
4 wins · 51 score
Coming of age
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead
3 wins · 40 score
Coming of age
Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver
3 wins · 39 score
Coming of age
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
3 wins · 37 score
Coming of age
Uprooted
Naomi Novik
4 wins · 29 score
Coming of age
Among Others
Jo Walton
3 wins · 28 score
Coming of age
Billy Bathgate
E. L. Doctorow
2 wins · 28 score
Coming of age
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Ben Fountain
2 wins · 28 score
Coming of age
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
2 wins · 28 score
Coming of age