With Help from My Sister

By Agata Garbowska, Aala Abdullahi, Catherine Mardon and Dr. Mardon

With Help from My Sister follows Amanda as she tries to come to terms with the diagnosis of her older sister Katelyn, in the wake of her father’s recent death. Unsure of what to think and how to react, Amanda finds herself lying to every one around her, including her best friend Grace. Awful impressions of British accents, Shakespeare, and peach cobbler come together in this novel as hilarious misunderstandings occur and Amanda is forced to tell the truth, but not before she finds help and solace in the most surprising of places. Each book in the Mental Illness Awareness series will highlight and focus on a specific mental disorder. This series aims to help children who are dealing with mental illness find solace, comfort, and common ground in the struggles of the children within these stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9780359667437

Book preview

With Help from My Sister

With Help From My Sister

By Aala Abdullahi with Dr.Mardon and Catherine Mardon

Illustrated by Agata Garbowska

Golden Meteorite Press

2015

A Golden Meteorite Press Book

© 2015 copyright by Aala Abdullahi, Canada

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any retrieval system, without the written permission of Golden Meteorite Press at [e-mail]

Designed by Shannon Fidler

Edited by Carmen Wu

Golden Meteorite Press

Suite 103, 11919-82 Street NW

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

T5B 2W4

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Abdullahi, Aala, author

A mental illness awareness book: with help from my sister / written by Aala Abdullahi; edited by Carmen Wu; illustrated by Agata Garbowska.

ISBN 978-0-359-66743-7

I. Abdullahi, Aala, author II. Wu, Carmen, editor III. Garbowska, Agata, illustrator IV. Title

PS8601.B38W58 2014

JC813’.6

C2014-905480-7

CHAPTER ONE

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng!

The ring of the bell startled Amanda out of her day- dream, causing the books on her desk to fall to the floor with a thud. Luckily, no one had noticed because they were all too busy scrambling to go outside for lunch. Amanda shook herself out of her drowsiness, and gathered her books as quickly as she could. Only one more class left in the day, she thought with relief.

It was Wednesday, and that meant school finished an hour and a half earlier. Amanda snickered when she remembered that she would definitely be getting home before her older sister Katelyn, who attended Sherbrooke High School. It was right across the field from the middle school, and the two sisters would always race to get home. The winner got first choice when it came to choosing the best snacks in the pantry, which meant a big deal to Amanda.

The contest first began when their mother started working later on in the day and couldn’t be home to make them her warm, just-out-of-the-oven, homemade peach cobbler like she used to. It was Amanda’s favorite, just like her late father’s. Of course, her mother still baked her peach cobbler, but it was always in the evenings. This just wasn’t the same as hurrying home from school knowing that the peach cobbler was waiting for her, and catching a whiff of its rich smell as she neared her house. Not only that, but in all her greatest memories, the peach cobbler made an appearance. When she finally learned how to ride a bike, her father came down the porch steps with the biggest slice of peach cobbler she’d ever seen. When she got her first C in her report card, instead of getting angry like she thought they would, her parents had hugged her and told her it was alright, and gave her the second biggest slice of peach cobbler she’d ever seen. Choosing the ‘best’ snack in the pantry was no substitute for peach cobbler, but Amanda wanted to make the most out of it… and if this was the closest she could find to their old tradition, then she had to take it seriously.

And she did take it seriously! Katelyn would make fun of Amanda for it, but she ignored her. That didn’t help Amanda win the race, though; the only times she won were on Wednesdays because of the early dismissal. Nonetheless, Amanda enjoyed the contest and always raced home, even if she knew Katelyn wouldn’t be getting home until later.

She sighed. If only Katelyn knew how much this meant to her, how much it reminded her of dad. Lately, Katelyn had been coming home later than usual, and when Amanda would ask where she’d been, she’d shrug her shoulders as if to say, I don’t know. Amanda would then try to tease her about being a loser, and how she had finished all the Milky Way bars so that Katelyn wouldn’t get any. But Katelyn would just roll her eyes and ignore her, get angry at her, or bound up the stairs as if Amanda had said the most offensive thing. This always left Amanda confused, who felt guilty and usually yelled, It was only a joke! after her sister. Stop being so sensitive, her mother would tease, your sister’s a teenager. What did you expect?

Amanda put away her books, and smiled as she grabbed her lunch and jacket to go outside. Just because Katelyn wasn’t going to participate didn’t mean she wasn’t. But Amanda’s glee at grabbing the last Milky Way bar before Katelyn could was short-lived when she realized that the next class she had was Drama. They were in the middle of the Shakespeare unit, and Amanda felt humiliated every time her teacher called on her to read out loud. However, she wasn’t alone in her embarrassment. Mrs. Kamp was one of Sherbrooke Middle School’s nicest teachers, but she was a frumpy, older woman who was known to be a bit scatter-brained. She had an odd obsession with 16th century England, and because of this, had a rule that one had to speak in a horrible impression of a British accent whenever selected to read out loud ("In order to make things more believable," she’d say in the accent) — hence Amanda’s hate for Drama class. Mrs. Kamp participated happily in this exercise, becoming animated and shouting at the top of her lungs in what had to be the worst British accent imaginable, oblivious to the groans and cringes from the rest of the class. Today, Amanda was just not in the mood to get embarrassed, and she was relying on her best friend, Grace, to think of a creative way to get out of it in case Mrs. Kamp did call on her. She felt bad for taking advantage of Mrs. Kamp’s kind and sympathetic nature, but nothing was worse than stumbling on words you’ve never read before in an awful foreign accent.

Remembering that she had to meet Grace at their usual spot under the large tree beside the playground, Amanda hurried out the door. Kids were always fighting over that tree. It had the best shade, and when you got bored, you could even climb it and sit on top of its biggest branch, which let you see everything that was going on. And that’s where Amanda found Grace, who was perched on top of the branch as if ready to pounce on anyone that dared walk underneath. She seemed to be intently staring at something across the field, towards the high school.

What are you doing? Amanda asked as she neared the tree. Grace? Earth to Grace!

Grace gave a startled jump and turned her head to look at Amanda. Oh, good. You’re here! She hopped off the branch and onto the ground in one smooth motion. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she said excitedly, You will not believe what I just heard!

Grace always had something new to share. They