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WHEN DORA, ELENA’S older sister, is diagnosed with depression and has to be admitted to the hospital, Elena can’t seem to make sense of their lives anymore. At school, the only people who acknowledge Elena are Dora’s friends and Jimmy Zenk—who failed at least one grade and wears blackevery day of the week. And at home, Elena’s parents keep arguing with each other. Elena will do anything to help her sister get better and get their lives back to normal—even when the responsibility becomes too much to bear.
WHEN DORA, ELENA’S older sister, is diagnosed with depression and has to be admitted to the hospital, Elena can’t seem to make sense of their lives anymore. At school, the only people who acknowledge Elena are Dora’s friends and Jimmy Zenk—who failed at least one grade and wears blackevery day of the week. And at home, Elena’s parents keep arguing with each other. Elena will do anything to help her sister get better and get their lives back to normal—even when the responsibility becomes too much to bear.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
On Sunday right after breakfast we went back to the hospital.
We walked through a sudden rain to the double doors of the main entrance, then shook the water from our clothes and crossed through the emergency room waiting area, where people with dislocated arms or broken fingers–things that were probably easy to fix–waited their turns the way we had done two days before.
My mother pushed the button for the elevator and turned to me as if discovering my existence for the first time. “Are you sure you’re up for this?” My mother was short, like me, and I worried I would grow up to be a lot like her: determined, chubby, and a pain in the neck. “That was traumatic yesterday,” she said. “You can wait in the lobby if you don’t want to come.”
“Of course she wants to come.” My father put his hand on my shoulder. I felt like their private puppet. Let me make her talk!
The elevator opened. Everyone else who filed in with us was carrying flowers and GET WELL! balloons. A little girl was dressed as if she were going to a birthday party. We got off on the fourth floor (no one else got off with us) and nodded to the security guard.
“Let’s not say anything to upset her,” my mother said.
“We ’ll just be ourselves.” Who else would we be? I wondered.
We stowed our jackets in a locker, walked through the metal detector, and buzzed the bell by the door.
I had brought Dora’s favorite pajama pants and a sweatshirt that said IOWA SURF CLUB, but the nurse who answered the door and let us in said Dora couldn’t have them because the sweatshirt had a hood on it and the pants had a string. “No ropes, no strings. And nothing sharp,” the nurse said. “I’ll keep these behind the desk so you can take them home.” Beyond the desk where the nurses worked, I saw a group of kids–maybe a dozen of them–sitting in gray plastic chairs in a semicircle. One girl was asleep sitting up. The others didn’t seem to be doing anything. A boy lifted his head and stared at me blankly, and I thought of the animals at the zoo, living their lives behind glass while a series of spectators either ignored them or hoped they would get up and do something worthwhile.
The nurse–her name tag identified her as Bev–said that Sunday mornings weren’t technically set up for “socializing,” but since we hadn’t been able to see Dora yet, she supposed we might stay for a short visit.
Where is she?” My mother hugged her arms to her chest.
One of the kids–he had short blond hair and what appeared to be fifteen or twenty stitches in his forehead–pointed toward a set of open doorways on the right: “She’s in her room.”
My sister’s new bedroom, like every other bedroom on the adolescent psychiatric ward at Lorning Memorial Hospital, had two narrow beds, both of them bolted to the vinyl floor, two wooden cubbies bolted to the wall, a gray smeared window that didn’t open, and a bathroom door that didn’t lock. She was reading a comic book on the bed nearer the window, her long legs straddling the mattress. She was wearing jeans and a hospital gown. The gown was printed with teddy bears holding stethoscopes.
“Dora,” my father said. “Hey. It’s great to see you.”
My sister turned toward us where we were clustered in the doorway. There was something different about her, I thought. There was something new about the way she looked at us, as if we...
About the Author-
Julie Schumacher is the author of three books for middle-grade readers. This is her first YA novel. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Reviews-
Dora has always led her younger sister, Elena, in spontaneous, unpredictable fun. But that ends when Dora is hospitalized for depression and returns as someone who lies, hides drugs, and skips school. Lynde Houck's performance perfectly gauges the reactions of Elena's parents and Elena's feelings before and after Dora's hospitalization. Elena's mother is cool, polite, and ready to whitewash the situation. Elena's father can barely contain his fury. Desperate to help her sister and grieving the loss of her former warmth and openness, Elena is buffeted between her opposing parents and tries to gain some kind of balance. Houck's narrative complements Schumacher's spare writing with nuanced emotions. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Starred review from August 4, 2008 Lena Lindt and her older sister, Dora, have always been close, like “right and left hands laced tight together.” They and their parents accept that Dora is the moody but fun one, “a storm on the horizon, the needle that always pointed to steady ,” a formula that works until Dora is overcome by severe depression in her junior year of high school. Schumacher's (The Book of One Hundred Truths ) characterizations are humane yet shaded: to combat the effect of Dora's illness, Mr. and Mrs. Lindt send the outwardly coping Lena to a therapist but treat Dora's eventual hospitalization like a shameful secret. Lena, meanwhile, feels an us-against-the-parents bond with her sister, who uses their intimacy to pressure Lena to keep secrets that may be endangering her recovery. The title refers to the drugs prescribed for Dora; at least one comes with a “black box” warning, meaning that the person taking it is at increased risk for suicide and needs to be watched closely—traditionally, Lena's job in the family. An expert use of metaphor, combined with sympathetic insight into the impact of depression on families, turns a painful subject into a standout novel. Ages 12–up.
Judith Guest, bestselling author of Ordinary People
"This tale of a good family that suddenly finds itself in bad trouble is witty and spare and expertly maps the territory of depression. Julie Schumacher is a wonderful writer; I love this novel."
Pete Hautman, winner of the National Book Award
"Schumacher's books ring with genuine and true memories, and her technical skills put her among the top middle-grade and YA writers working today."
Andrew Solomon, bestselling author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
"Black Box is a vivid, intimate portrait of the effect depression has on its immediate victim and on the people around her. Taut and compact, it is written with passionate clarity."
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Dora has always led her younger sister, Elena, in spontaneous, unpredictable fun. But that ends when Dora is hospitalized for depression and returns as someone who lies, hides drugs, and skips school. Lynde Houck's performance perfectly gauges the reactions of Elena's parents and Elena's feelings before and after Dora's hospitalization. Elena's mother is cool, polite, and ready to whitewash the situation. Elena's father can barely contain his fury. Desperate to help her sister and grieving the loss of her former warmth and openness, Elena is buffeted between her opposing parents and tries to gain some kind of balance. Houck's narrative complements Schumacher's spare writing with nuanced emotions. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
