• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 12, age appropriate for kids over 13; suggested age 14.

• Is it any good?

  4.0

• Common Sense says

  Schizophrenia classic still engages.

Why We Rated This for Ages 14 and Up

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  Deborah and the other patients make cutting comments and harass hospital attendants. Children bully Deborah and call her a "dirty Jew." At camp, an instructor says Hitler was doing a good thing to get rid of the "garbage people." Deborah steals from other children at camp. She believes that she is poisonous and will contaminate other people. Deborah and other former patients are ostracized by the community.
• Violence:

  Deborah tries to commit suicide; a hospital attendant kills himself. The patients act violently, fighting with the staff and throwing beds or tables; one hits Deborah with a plate of food. The patients are tied into a "pack," bound tightly with sheets so they cannot move. Deborah jokes that her "potential for callousness" qualifies her for a career as a "professional assassin." Deborah burns herself with cigarettes, causing wounds that are difficult to treat.
• Sex:

  Deborah's roommate believes she is the secret first wife of the King of England, who is being held in a House of Prostitution by his enemies. She tells Deborah she is "raped every night" and later calls Deborah a "little whore." She tells Deborah a doctor "violated" her while she was held immobile. There is a reference to patients "masturbating incontinently in public."
• Language:

  "Bitch," "damn."
• Consumerism:

  Not an issue.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Deborah's therapist smokes, as do many patients and staff members. Deborah uses cigarettes to burn herself multiple times.

What Parents Need to Know

About I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

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