In this verse novel, Sonya Sones tells the true story of what happened when she was thirteen years old and her big sister went crazy. Each poem in the book focuses on a particular feeling or a particular event, and the poems come together to tell the story. “Collected, they take on life and movement, the individual frames of a movie that in the unspooling become animated, telling a compelling tale and presenting a painful passage through young adolescence” (Kirkus review).
The poems brilliantly capture the brutal honesty of Cookie’s thoughts and feelings, and readers will find themselves sympathizing with every hope and fear Cookie has. She attempts to continue living life as normally as possible-“I can pretend/that things are fine,/that nothing has changed,/that everything’s just/like it used to be/before.”-even though deep down everything has changed. Friends at school stopped talking to her when they found out, her parents are withdrawn and distant from her, and Cookie constantly wonders if she will go crazy too.
The poems vary in length and style. The shortest poem, and yet one of the most meaningful, in the novel is “The Truth Is.” The raw honesty is apparent in the simple poem: “I don’t want to see you./I dread it./There./I’ve said it” (page 64). Short and concise, the poem still manages to allow readers a deep glimpse into Cookie’s mind and heart. While this poem is written with capitalization and punctuation, not all of the poems are. The poems without grammar read as if they are a constant stream of thought and conscientiousness.
An author’s note is included which explains how the book came to be written and the true story behind the novel. With permission of her sister, the book was written with the hope that it would open up discussion about mental illness. This book provides insight as to how mental illness affected one middle school girl and her family. “The simply crafted but deeply felt poems reflect her thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams during that troubling time” (School Library Journal review).
Korbeck, Sharon. 1999. School Library Journal. New York: Reed Business Information, Inc. Available at www.amazon.com.
Kirkus. 1999. Kirkus Associates, L.P. Available at www.amazon.com.
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