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Book Summary
Katherine and her best friend Erica decide to go to Erica's cousins house for a party. There Katherine met a boy named Michael. They didn't talk much until Michael returned to the house the next day. After spending the day together, Katherine and Michael became a couple. Michael was sweet and loving and never pressured inexperienced Katherine into having sex. When the time was right, they did and their relationship grew even more. They were in love...forever. As the school year came to a close, both Michael and Katherine's parents decided the couple needed to spend some time apart. They swore it wouldn't change a thing. Then Katherine met Theo.
My Thoughts
This book is a very light read. It is fun but not really too interesting. The story is a play by play of the teenage couple's relationship. Judy Blume does a great job of describing the feelings of a teenage girl when faced with love and sex. It is a great read for teenage girls dealing with a similar situation.
Library Usage
Forever is a good book to recommend to patrons on an individual basis. Due to the controversy surrounding this book, I would hesitate to use it in any other way.
Journal Reviews
Booklist, October 15, 1988
"Katherine and Michael's romance progresses rapidly from kissing to sexual intercourse after Katherine gets the Pill-- but will their love last forever?"
Note: This is the only review I was able to locate.
Book Summary
Stop Pretending tells the story of Cookie, a girl whose older sister has a nervous breakdown and ends up in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. The story, told entirely through poems, expresses Cookies feelings as she watches her sister disappear into a world of crazy people. As a result, her family falls apart and her friends desert her. Cookie feels helpless and hopeless. She struggles with the idea that she too could go crazy. She also learns about love, friendship, and strength.
My Thoughts
Reading a book entirely in verse was not an idea that thrilled me. Overall, it wasn't a bad read but I would rather have read it in a prose format. It was a very interesting story and I wanted to know more details than I was getting.
Library Usage
Stop Pretending would make a good book club read. It's also an excellent book recommendation for a young adult that may be going through a similar situation.
Journal Reviews
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."
Kirkus Reviews
"In a story based on real events, and told in poems, Sones explores what happened and how she reacted when her adored older sister suddenly began screaming and hearing voices in her head, and was ultimately hospitalized.To a budding genre that includes Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust (1997) and Virginia Euwer Wolff's Make Lemonade (1993), this book is a welcome addition."
Book Summary
