Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. 2004. ISBN 978-1416995135
AWARDS:
SSLI Honor Book Award 2006
IRA Young Adult Choices Award 2005
PSLA Top Ten for Teens 2005
Quills Award nominee 2005
Book Sense Top 10 2005
SUMMARY: Kristina Snow is a normal high school girl, until her mother reluctantly allows her to go visit her deadbeat father for a vacation. He lives in a drug infested neighborhood and soon Kristina joins him and partakes in what she calls the “monster,” which is methamphetamine. With the “monster,” she turns into her alter ego “Bree.” Bree is less shy and allows the “monster” to take over her life.
When she returns home she begins hanging out with a different crowd. All her new friends are pathways to get her to the “monster.” She is eventually raped, but is also sexually active with a boy she cares about. She becomes pregnant, but doesn’t know for certain whom the father is.
She has a son and they live with her mother and step father. Her life is hard with a son to take care of, and she is constantly tempted by the “monster.” In the end, she gives in and goes out the door to get high.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS: This story, told through the eyes of Kristina, is hard to read. The book shows how a perfectly good kid can succumb to the temptations of drugs. One mistake leads to another until she is a drug addict, as well as pregnant. The author has told a believable tale of teenage drug addiction. Kristina’s life spirals out of control and her trip down this path is totally believable. As Kristen says “Life was good before I met the monster. After, life was great. At least for a little while.” (Hopkins 2004.)
The character is well developed and most teenagers can relate to Kristin’s need to know her real father and in that need to be accepted, she chooses to try drugs. I would recommend this book to teenage girls. The book might be too long for reluctant readers. The novel in verse makes it easier to read, but it is long. I liked that the way the verses displayed on the page are constantly changing which makes the display and visual of the book more appealing. There is a lesson to be learned from this story and the fact that the author really experienced this situation with her own daughter makes it more appealing and believable.
I didn’t like that the author doesn’t include resources for students to use if they have a problem. I think it would have been more responsible to include ways for real teenagers to receive help.
REVIEWS:
School Library Journal Review:
“Grade 8 Up–Seventeen-year-old Kristina Snow is introduced to crank on a trip to visit her wayward father. Caught up in a fast-paced, frightening, and unfamiliar world, she morphs into "Bree" after she "shakes hands with the monster." Her fearless, risk-taking alter ego grows stronger, "convincing me to be someone I never dreamed I'd want to be." When Kristina goes home, things don't return to normal. Although she tries to reconnect with her mother and her former life as a good student, her drug use soon takes over, leaving her "starving for speed" and for boys who will soon leave her scarred and pregnant. Hopkins writes in free-verse poems that paint painfully sharp images of Kristina/Bree and those around her, detailing how powerful the "monster" can be. The poems are masterpieces of word, shape, and pacing, compelling readers on to the next chapter in Kristina's spiraling world. This is a topical page-turner and a stunning portrayal of a teen's loss of direction and realistically uncertain future.”
Booklist Review:
“Gr. 8-12. Like the teenage crack user in the film Traffic, the young addict in this wrenching, cautionary debut lives in a comfortable, advantaged home with caring parents. Sixteen-year-old Kristina first tries crank, or crystal meth, while visiting her long-estranged father, a crank junkie. Bree is Kristina's imagined, bolder self, who flirts outrageously and gets high without remorse, and when Kristina returns to her mother and family in Reno, it's Bree who makes connections with edgy guys and other crank users that escalate into full-blown addiction and heartrending consequences. Hopkins tells Kristina's story in experimental verse. A few overreaching lines seem out of step with character voices: a boyfriend, for example, tells Kristina that he'd like to wait for sex until she is "free from dreams of yesterday." But Hopkins uses the spare, fragmented style to powerful effect, heightening the emotional impact of dialogues, inner monologues, and devastating scenes, including a brutal date rape. Readers won't soon forget smart, sardonic Kristina; her chilling descent into addiction; or the author's note, which references her own daughter's struggle with "the monster.”
RESOURCES:
Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. 2004.
Ellen Hopkins website.
Ellen Hopkins/Simon and Schuster website.
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