02. Stop Pretending

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: HarperCollins. 2011. Kindle File.

Annotation:

"When her big sister goes crazy, Cookie is left to make sense of a life she thought she understood."

Justification for rejection:

The book presents the reader with a series of short poems that demonstrate reality as perceived by a girl who witnesses her sister go through a psychotic episode. The poems are short, easily digestible, and definitely convey what the protagonist is experiencing. This book would be especially good for adolescents who are intimidated by large novels, as it is quite brief.

The book is engrossing, I would expect that many readers (young and old) will finish it in a single sitting. The verse style lends itself to being very fast paced, with exposition almost entirely removed. The style also helps the book to be driven almost entirely by emotion. Cookie's experiences are vivid, and definitely reflect the intensity required in a great YA novel.

Though the book is an excellent one, though I do not feel it reaches the level required for nomination. One major problem is that there seems to be really no major choices made by Cookie, or her sister. The experiences are really just that: experiences. They do not seem to be driven by the decisions made by the adolescents in the story. A second problem area is in the simplicity of language used. The story is told from Cookie's perspective, but the word choices seem to be dumbed-down from what an actual adolescent would use to express herself.

I found this to be a wonderful novel, and certainly worth the (short!) time investment. Due to a few key flaws, I do not believe it reaches the level warranting nomination.

Genre: Poetry or Verse Novel

01. Nation

Pratchet, Terry. Nation. New York: Harper Collins, 2009. Print.

Annotation:
"When a disaster flattens his world, a young man with no soul is the only hope for the Nation."

Justification for nomination:
The book presents the reader with someone so different from what they are used to, and still manages to find a way to make him entirely relatable. A boy leaves his island home (Nation) to accept the trial that will make him a man. Before he can make his triumphant return, a tsunami destroys the village that he knows and with it everyone in his life. He knows he is truly not a man until he goes through the requisite rituals, and is therefore trapped somewhere between boyhood and manhood.

Other adult survivors come to Nation, but are unable or unwilling to accept the responsibility of leading them. Thus, the heavy burden falls on the shoulders of our protagonist. This is done quite expertly, and does not feel contrived.

The story is very intense, and at times gut wrenching. There are long periods of high-tension where I found myself lost in Nation. The intense moments were mixed with a truly interesting back-story which showed glimpses of the treatment of other cultures during the age of imperialism.

In the end, a decision must be made for both of the main characters. They need to weigh their senses of duty over their love for each other. The reader feels the immense weight of their choice, but the decision fits the characters perfectly.

The story never drags, even though it possesses many moving parts and approaches 400 pages. Overall, Pratchet has presented a masterpiece that is relatable to both an adult and adolescent audience.

Genre: Printz, Coming of age