Module 6 LS 5623 Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy

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STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya. 1999. STOP PRETENDING: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 9780060283872.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Sonya Sones takes a look at mental illness through the eyes of the people left behind. During Christmas Break, Cookie's big sister has a breakdown and is put in a "psycho" ward. Cookie writes in her journal to deal with all the confusion going on in her mind. "When I was lost/you were the one who found me/now you're the one who's lost/and I can't find you anywhere."

As the family comes to terms with Sister's illness, Cookie goes through fear of being crazy too, loss of friends, depression, and first love. At one point, after missing her sister's help on homework, she writes,"I'm sitting here taking the test/but the numbers on the page/keep scrambling in my head/and the only equation/ I really understand is: 4-1=0." By the end of the novel, Cookie and her family have adjusted to their new version of "normal".

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book, written as a diary in verse, is most powerful when one reads the author's notes. STOP PRETENDING is based on Sones own experience as her sister has a mental breakdown. After sharing a poem about visiting her sister in the hospital, Sones was encouraged to share even more of her poems because "Poems like this would be helpful to anyone who has a family member with a problem that's throwing the rest of the family off-kilter".

The first person narrative of this book is written so that anyone experiencing this type of situation could relate. Her sister is called "Sister", while Sonya is called "Cookie". This quote from the review in Children's Books in Ireland explains the book best, "It is undoubtedly engaging, in places poignant, and skillful in sketching in the background details of home, family relationships and hospital. But its overall tone is uncertain".

4. HONORS AND AWARDS
California Department of Education's 2002 Recommended Literature List: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve

5. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From School Library Journal: "An unpretentious, accessible book that could provide entry points for a discussion about mental illness-its stigma, its realities, and its affect on family members."

From Amazon.com Review: "In a sequence of short, intense poems based on the author's own experiences, a 13-year-old girl suffers through her shifting feelings about her sibling's mental illness."

Module 6 LS 5623 Tricks

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TRICKS
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hopkins, Ellen. 2009. TRICKS. New York: Margaret K. McElderrey Books. ISBN 9781416950073.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Eden lives the beginning of her life with her evangelical preacher father and mother. When she falls in love with a boy from another religion, she is sent away to "A sizable chunk of desert dubbed Tears of Zion. Oh, it's a very special place where Father and his 'disciples' rehabilitate incorrigible youth." Ginger has been used and abused by her prostitute mother for childcare, housekeeping, and even for a few "tricks" with older men. Ginger escapes with her girlfriend to Las Vegas and begins life as a stripper/escort.

Seth, a farm boy, is disowned when his father discovers that Seth has been involved in a homosexual relationship. Seth begins his life as a kept man, being cared for by older gentlemen until he discovers Vegas and becomes an escort.
Whitney has an absentee father, a "perfect" older sister, and a mother who loves her older sister more. Whitney falls in love with an older man, who takes her away to Las Vegas. He becomes her pimp, and introduces her to heroin.
Cody becomes trapped in financial worries as his gambling addiction grows and his stepfather passes away, leaving Cody with a pile of debt. He is lured into becoming an escort for other males, and uses the money to help his family out.

"Lucky me. I found the right kind of love. With the wrong person." So could be the lament of the five main characters in Tricks. Five different teens with five different stories all wind up in Las Vegas, pulling tricks.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Hopkins tells the story of each character in their own voice. The book is written as a series of different poems. Just as in Crank and Glass, Tricks tackles tough issues in a straight forward way. There were times that I did not think I would be able to get through the book due to the nature of the subject matter, "Graphic sex, rape, drugs, bitter loneliness, despair—and eventually, blessedly, glimmers of hope"(Kirkus Reviews. The hope at the end of the book makes the rest of it bearable. This book is clearly for older readers.

One of the unique traits of Hopkins writing is when she spaces some of her words out to the side of a poem so that when they are read individually, they create their own mini poem.

Possibilities
As a child, I was wary,
often felt cornered.
To escape, I regularly
stashed myself
in the closet,
comforted by curtains
of cotton. Silk. Velour.
Avoided wool, which
encouraged my
itching
the ever-present rashes
on my arms, legs. My skin
reacted to secret, lies,
and taunts by wanting
to break out.
(The italicized lines are the lines which would appear to the right of the poem and can be read together.)

4. HONORS AND AWARDS
ALA's 2010 Rainbow List

5. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Booklist:"Teens will queue up for this one—some, admittedly, for the sensational subject matter—and find Hopkins’ trademark empathy for teens in rough situations."

From Kirkus Reviews:"Hopkins sharply portrays extreme adolescent turbulence with her biggest cast yet, as five disparate, desperate teens are sucked into the Las Vegas world of selling sex."

Module 6 LS 5623 The Plain Janes

Book cover image from Amazon.com

THE PLAIN JANES
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Castellucci, Cecil and Rugg, Jim. 2007. THE PLAIN JANES. New York: DC Comics. ISBN 9781404211158.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Jane is moved to suburbia from Metro City after she is injured in a 9/11 type bombing of a cafe. As she reevaluates her life, she begins high school, determined not to be so complacent. Through a series of letters to a comatose John Doe she met at the hospital after the attack, Jane documents her life. She befriends a group of "loners" who all happen to be named Jane, thus her "tribe" begins. There is brainy Jayne, athletic wanna be Polly Jane, and dramatic Jane. This group of misfits begins a group called P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art in Neighborhoods), and it is in plotting and carrying out their plans to help people "find something beautiful everyday" that each girl gains the confidence to realize her own dream.

3. CRITICAL ANAYLSIS
This graphic, young adult novel was developed to appeal to teen girls. True to its form, this novel will appeal to reluctant readers, too, "It’s sparsely worded, but the art depicts scenes with a mastery of teen life"(KLIATT Review). This first person narrative is believable and true to teen language "this sucks". Each stereotypical high school cliche is represented by a believable character: the rebel, the jock, the drama queen, the misunderstood loner, the genius, the mean girl, and even the student who has "come out". What isn't stereotypical is that this isn't a cute little novel happening in the typical high school fashion: "Ultimately, the book’s message is about the transformative and healing power of art, and the role outsiders have always played in bringing that message to the masses" (Cooperative Children's Book Choices).

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Library Media Connection: "This book represents an excellent blend of YA fiction and graphic novel, and is destined to be very popular with junior high and high school students."

From Booklist: "Cecil Castellucci’s first graphic novel is both funny and serious in its depiction of our post–9/11 world where conformity is too often equated with security. Much of the humor comes from Jim Rugg’s illustrations, which perfectly capture the sense of adolescent ennui and enthusiasm."