Sometimes - Joann Howeth - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Joann Howeth

ILLUSTRATOR: Vicky Kuhn

GENRE: Children's fiction.

RATING: 3.5 stars

In a Nutshell: Sometimes, you want to love a book just for its intent. And in intent, this gets full marks. The content needs a little more to be perfect.

Written in the first person perspective of a young girl, the story reveals to us how the narrator lives with a mother who is possibly bipolar. (The book doesn’t assign any cause to her behaviour.) The girl’s dad “has been gone a long time” (again, no explanations provided) and as such, she is dependent only on her mother. But her mother’s mood swings are quite erratic, and the girl doesn’t know what makes her like this. Moreover, the house is cluttered and the fridge is empty. When Mummy tells the girl that she’s doing the best she can and accompanies her words with “Don’t tell!”, the girl understands that she should keep her personal problems a secret. But her neighbour Mrs. McGeorge realises what’s happening, and encourages the girl to seek help.

This is such a sad story. My heart broke for the little girl who lived a life of such uncertainty under her mother and still felt like she had to be loyal to her parent by not revealing their problems to others. The neighbour’s words to her – ‘Sometimes, we have to tell’ – are so simple yet accurate.

The plot is as jumpy as Mummy’s behaviour. One page might have her talking to her daughter in a friendly way while the very next page might depict her snapping at her child. I felt as restless as the little girl might under those circumstances. There was simply no relaxing with such a parent around. Maybe this was done purposely to show life with such a parent, but the result is quite nerve-wracking. The abrupt ending doesn’t help. I wanted more. I wanted closure.

As the book doesn’t provide any explanation for the dad’s disappearance and the mother’s mental health issues, the book is quite flexible in its application. However, where it misses out on a golden opportunity is in providing a practical checklist for children, either in terms of warning signs of problematic behaviour in caregivers or by providing a list of persons/help centres whom children can approach. A list of helpful resources at the end would have worked wonders in enhancing the impact of this book.

I loved the message of the book. Those closest to us can also hurt us. We might feel the need to protect our loved ones by keeping their darker side a secret but as the book rightly says, sometimes, we do need to tell. So many children might be silent sufferers under such conditions, and I hope this book encourages them to seek help from someone reliable.

The illustrations have a subtle poignancy about them, though they are in bright, vivid pastels. They work excellently for the content.

This book would work well in a place where help is available for children (the office of a therapist or a counsellor or a social worker) or in common places where children can go to find help (a classroom or a library.)

All in all, I love that fact that such a book exists, and though I wanted more, I still appreciate the attempt.

My thanks to Cherish Editions, Literally PR Ltd. and NetGalley for the DRC of “Sometimes”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.