Black-Eyed Suzie

From The Critics

Black-Eyed Susie features a twelve-year old girl, Susie, who no longer eats, sleeps, or speaks. Her father is rarely home, and her mother insists that Susie is only "going through a stage." While visiting, Susie's Uncle Elliot realizes something is drastically wrong. He insists that she be taken for care. Susie is admitted to a mental hospital where she begins a long journey toward health. During her stay, Susie meets a therapist, Stella, and two other children—one who terrorizes her, and one who offers friendship while dealing with his own struggles. Author Susan Shaw, at most times, handles skillfully the topic of mental illness in adolescents. The book is written in a fashion that makes it understandable to young adolescents who may recognize themselves as Susie works her way out of her psychological prison. Susie moves to a new understanding of why she has been ill, and finally does make sense of her world with the book ending realistically. "They lived happily ever after" doesn't happen in this realistic story, but a feasible solution is found. This book is a good addition to any classroom library. 2002, Boyds Mill Press, 167 pp.,
— Connie Russell

Children's Literature

Twelve-year-old Suzie stays in her own box, an imaginary shelter where she doesn't have to eat, speak, or sleep. She pictures a fluffy pink cloud in which she can feel safe from a world that has no love for her. Her father is seldom around; her mother insists that Suzie's odd behavior is just an act, a stage that girls go through. Suzie's older sister, Deanna, is worried about her—she never went through a stage like that. Suzie's Uncle Eliot, a rare voice of reason in her disordered life, insists that she be examined. Suzie spends the next few months in a mental hospital, where slowly but surely she begins to unravel the cause of her descent into depression. Flashbacks offer insight into the root cause for her withdrawal. Short chapters, related in the first person point of view, provide a realistic, ominous, and oppressive picture of a young girl's psychological anguish. Gaining understanding into Suzie's mother's destructive behavior is the first step toward recovery, and the reader feels hopeful for her future. 2002, Boyds Mills Press,
— Christopher Moning

VOYA

Twelve-year-old Suzie is in terrible trouble. Severely traumatized by a horrific family situation, she seeks relief in a near-catatonic state. Mute, bunched into a nonmoving box of her own imagination, and barely eating, Suzie narrates this harrowing tale of her unbearable descent into mental illness. Her Uncle Elliott pays an unplanned visit to Suzie's home and is stunned by Suzie's life-threatening physical decline. Furious with Suzie's ineffectual father and her cold, selfish mother, Elliot comes to the rescue and literally scoops Suzie off to a psychiatric hospital. At first, Suzie desperately attempts to avoid uncovering her secrets at the hospital. She resists the gentle, consistent ministrations of the staff, who patiently build trust, first one bite of food at a time, then by one firm, protective action after another. They ban Suzie's mother when they see her roughing up Suzie on the premises, and they more closely monitor the physically aggressive Karen, another patient, who repeatedly goes after Suzie. First novelist Shaw powerfully unravels the complicated dance children experience in their minds: "If I can just be quieter/stiller/smaller, maybe mommy will love me." The cast of characters in Suzie's family, while playing to type with a brutish mother, emasculated father, and a golden, loving sister with secrets of her own, fairly represents the kinds of family dynamics that endanger children. Shaw shows, through Suzie's fragile recovery, that secrets kept are poison to the soul. Secrets aired are salvation. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2002, Boyds Mills, 167p,Andersen

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-Twelve-year-old Suzie has completely lost touch with reality. She is unable to eat, talk, sleep, or walk and sits in a cramped fetal position and cries. Her mother is infuriated by this "stage" she's in; her father is concerned but distant. It is only when Suzie's uncle forces the family to acknowledge that something is wrong and she is hospitalized that the child can begin to heal. The book is narrated by the inner voice of a character who can't speak because she simply "doesn't have any words," and she is the only character who is fully developed. Details of the abuse that caused Suzie's breakdown slowly emerge, but when the girl is confronted with the danger her older sister is in, she heroically responds. Once the truth is revealed, Suzie's recovery is unrealistically quick, but this is a riveting story that could well serve to help other children deal with a difficult family situation.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.