Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Bibliographic Information
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division)
Publication year: 2004
ISBN: 978-0689865190

Reader’s Annotation
Kristina is a conscientious straight-A student until goes on an extended visit to her father and meets Adam, who introduces her to Crank, a.k.a. The Monster, a.k.a. Methamphetamine. After she is addicted Kristina’s life becomes a spiral of dealing, consuming, and dealing with the consequences of her actions while high on The Monster.

Plot Summary
Kristina takes a three week trip to visit her father in Albuquerque the summer before her junior year and returns home addicted to Methamphetamine, street named Crank. She quickly finds connections to buy the drug in her hometown of Reno with the help of Brendan, a smooth talking dealer, and Chase, a good-hearted jock. After Brendan rapes her, Kristina confides in Chase and soon finds herself in a loving relationship with Chase. However, Kristina’s drug-induced downward spiral continues until she finds herself in juvenile hall gaining a direct contact to a Meth manufacturer in Mexico. After being released Kristina becomes a dealer, selling to students at her school and allowing her grades and class attendance to fall by the wayside. Suddenly, an unexpected event forces Kristina to choose between Crank and what the rest of her life could be if she gets clean.

Critical Evaluation
One of Crank’s greatest strengths is the personal nature in which it is written. Hopkins loosely based Kristina’s journey on her daughter’s descent into drug addiction, giving it a level of reality that strictly fictional books sometimes lack. Formatting the novel in free-form poetry verses gives the reader the impression of Kristina’s disjointed thoughts as her consciousness fades in and out of sobriety. Strategically bolding certain words within the stanzas give the poems deeper or dual meanings, adding another level to the narrator’s consciousness. This technique also puts the reader into Kristina’s convoluted consciousness as she struggles to form concrete thoughts while high or coming down from the drugs. The tone in which Hopkins forms her poetry come together with her personal experience to form a cohesive, cautionary, and at times heartbreaking tale about the dangers and consequences of Methamphetamine.

Author Information
Born: March 26, 1955 in Long Beach, CA. I was adopted at birth by an older couple. Albert C. Wagner was 72 at the time; Valeria was 42. To put that into perspective, he was born in 1883 and she was born in 1912.

In school: I was a straight A student almost all the way through school. With an excellent private school background through 8th grade, it was fairly easy to maintain those grades all the way through high school, despite a certain renegade attitude (70s rebel and all that!). I was the type who could read a chapter in a book and pass a test, even without the classroom discussion necessary for some.

Started writing: From the time I knew how to put words on paper. I’ve always been writing something (especially poetry) ever since, although I didn’t start writing for money until around 1992.

Published: my first poem, a brilliant haiku (I’m pretty sure there were trees and springtime in it), when I was nine. I was always encouraged by my English teachers to write, and won pretty much every creative writing contest I ever entered all the way through high school.

Graduated: Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in 1973. Went on to study journalism in college (Crafton Hills College and UCSB), but dropped out to get married and start a family.

Children: Had my first child, Jason, when I was just 21. He was born in 1976. Cristal followed two years later.

For the last time: We moved to northern Nevada, in a rural valley between Reno and Carson City, in 1990. We thought the move might be temporary, but we simply love it here. If you look in my photo albums online, you’ll find examples of why. It’s a different kind of beauty than the green of Washington, but the palette here—gold and auburn and sage and the deep blue of the Sierra–is unmatched.

During this time: I decided to try and write for a living. I started freelancing newspaper and magazine articles. Moved from there into children’s nonfiction, publishing twenty titles before I sold my first novel. I was always trying different things—picture books, early chapter books, etc., and I wrote an entire adult novel, which didn’t sell then. I also taught creative part time as an artist-in-residence; owned my own little publishing company, which did a newspaper for children; and was an instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. And I did all those things simultaneously, searching for where I belonged as a writer.

The real story: behind Crank took place between the years 1995 and 2001. “Hunter,” aka Orion, was born in 1996. We took guardianship of him when he was just a baby and adopted him when he was not quite four years old. He is the light of our lives (as well as the biggest pain!) and a true gift. He knows the whole story, of course, but considers us his parents, and we consider him our son.

We lived: in the same modest home until 2008. Rather than move (we love our 1.25 acres on a hill overlooking Washoe Lake to the Sierra), we added on, and remodeled the old part of the house. Everything they say about remodeling/additions is true. The process had dust and some small delays. But it was sooooooooo worth it. We built exactly the house we thought we’d need for the rest of our lives.

Source: http://ellenhopkins.com/YoungAdult/bio/

Genre
Fiction
Poetry

Curriculum Ties
Health
Language Arts

Booktalking Ideas
Tell the audience about Kristina’s personality shift from the beginning of the novel to the end, and how an addiction to hard drugs change it as well as her relationship to her family and opinions about her own life. Read passage toward the end of the book when she is trying to decide how to handle her unexpected pregnancy. Then give a rating from 1-5 and tell the audience why this is my rating, and take questions.

Reading Level/Interest Age
School Library Journal: Grade 8 and up

Challenging Issues
Depression
Drug use and/or Addiction
Language
Rape and Sexual Assault
Running Away
Sexual Content and/or Nudity
Teen Pregnancy

Preparing for Potential Challenges
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-potential-challenges.html

Why the Item Was Chosen
This is another series that might draw young adults into the library because of its popularity. Crank and the other books in the series unfailingly hold the interest of young readers because of their riveting stories and quick pace. Reading the books written in free verse poetry make reluctant readers feel like they have made a lot of progress in a short period of time. The story arc coupled with the small number of words on each page makes Crank easy to read, enjoy, and understand in just a few days. The level of popularity of Hopkins’ books coupled with the potential appeal to reluctant readers is why I have chosen it as an addition to my collection.