Crank
Hopkins, Ellen., 2004.
Crank.
New York: Simon Pulse.
544 pages, paperback.
$10.99
ISBN 9780689865190.
Rating: 4.5/5.0 stars
Plot Summary
After eight years of nothing: no visits, no calls, no cards, between Kristina and her dad, suddenly she is on a plane to Albuquerque to spend the summer with him. Confident that things will go well, she argues with her mom: what could possibly go wrong?
As a middle child, Kristina was smart, not straight A smart but pretty close, she was quiet, and she never gave anyone trouble. Seeing her actual dad, instead of the handsome prince of her memory was less than magical, smelling his tobacco and Jack Daniels aroma, seeing his job at the bowling alley reminded Kristina that maybe her mom was closer to being right.
When she was little, Kristina was her daddy’s princess. She couldn’t understand big words like infidelity, addictions, and limitations. She only knew that her mom kept her from him.
When Kristina flirts with a new boy whose nickname is Buddy, she decides to try on the name Bree. It is the name of someone who could get what she wanted, someone who would take risks, someone who would try and become hooked, someone who would re-write her entire future, and live just for her new lust: crank.
Critical Evaluation
Written as free verse poems, Crank rapidly moves readers between the present and past opening with Kristina’s trip to visit her dad after eight years of no contact. As short clips and shape poems, readers seem to move quickly from page to page and chapter to chapter. This reader’s pace is effective, as it equals the pace of Kristina’s downward spiral, which is staggering and frightening to readers.
The way Hopkins shows a freedom for Kristina to shed herself and become someone new, more invincible, more flirty and risky-seeking demonstrates that parts of this inner personality may have been within her all along; the drug only exacerbated it.
Hopkins takes readers on a journey from typical teen to full-blown drug addict that will do anything, and sleep with anyone in order to access more drugs is sadly realistic. Every element of every poem feels pure and true; this story is possible, probable. Hopkins’ plea to keep kids from even trying this unforgiving drug is heartfelt.
Reader’s Annotation
My name is Kristina Georgia Snow and when I was fifteen I was the perfect teenage daughter, quiet, talented, not quite a straight-A student yet gifted, a junior in high school, and never a problem for my mom and step-dad. Until I went to Albuquerque to visit my deadbeat dad, until I met Adam, until I invited the monster: crank into my life and allowed the inner Bree in me to escape.
Information About the Author
Ellen Hopkins was born in 1955, adopted and raised in Palm Springs, California. From the early age of nine, when she published her first poem, she knew that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. When she found her birth mother, she discovered that she, too, was a writer and poet.
She attended the University of California – Santa Barbara studying journalism but left so get married and start a family. She has three adult children: Jason, Cristal and Kelly. When her middle child began experimenting with crystal meth, the inspiration for Crank, Hopkins’ already rocky marriage ended. Hopkins has adopted Orion, who was born to Cristal in 1999 during her addiction period.
Hopkins met John, sold her business and moved to Tahoe where she decided to chase her writing dream. Hopkins writes freelances articles for magazines and newspapers and published her first two non-fiction books in 2000: Air Devils and Orcas, High Seas Supermen. Since then, she has published more than 20 additional non-fiction titles for children. Hopkins also continues to write fiction, short stories and picture books.
(Hopkins, 2011).
Genre
Fiction: Issues – addictions
Read-Alikes
What my Girlfriend Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
Curriculum Ties
For health class, students who are researching and presenting on the hazards of illicit drug use, including its effects to both the user and his or her family, have used Crank.
Booktalking Ideas
1) share Alone showing the contrast between Kristina and Bree (inner girl)
2) the beginning attraction between Kristina/Bree and Adam/Buddy
Book Trailer Links
Book Trailer by a Reader
Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 8 - 12 / Ages 14 and up
Challenge Issues
addictions, teen sex, rape, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, crystal meth, crank
First, I would share some of the recommendations used as part of the selection process, including reviews from resources as noted below. Next, I would point out the value in allowing these types of materials to be optional reading as teens grow ever closer to adulthood and making their own decisions. Finally, following our school district’s policy #KEC, after explaining that our school district’s philosophy is that no parent or group of parents has the right to determine the reading matter for children other than their own, I would refer the parent or community member to the building principal, so that he/she can file a written complaint to begin the process of review.
Awards
New York Times Bestseller
Abraham Lincoln Award, 2009
Why Title Included & Selection Tools
Crank is included because it was the first of its kind that I read relating to teen addictions, and written in such a powerful poetic format that it has real staying power with its readers.
School Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly
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