Module 6: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Hopkins, Ellen. 2004. Crank. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a novel in free verse poetry that tells the story of 15-year old Kristina and how she becomes addicted to the Monster (aka crystal meth or crank). Kristina’s addiction begins with a visit to her estranged father for a summer. This visit reveals to the reader that her father is a junkie himself, and when Kristina first meets him at the airport and hugs him, she describes the hug as “Nasty odors gulped. Marlboros. Jack Daniels. Straighforward B.O.” At her father’s apartment complex, she meets bad boy Adam who she describes as having a “hot bod,” “a bare, baby face to make the angels sing,” a “tawny six pack,” “pretty boy,” with a “smile that zapped every cell” (Hopkins 2004, 27-28). Adam becomes Kristina’s first boyfriend, and he introduces her to the Monster. It is during the brief weeks visiting her father that begins Kristina’s downward spiral into a haze of drugs and a craving for Crank. She invents a new personal—named Bree—that helps her to flirt and throw herself without remorse into her drug-infused state, and when Kristina returns to her mom's house after visiting her father, Bree and the Monster come with her. Whatever Kristina cannot do due to a conscience, Bree can and does. Hopkins takes the reader on Kristina’s/Bree’s story and provides an inside view into a mind of a drug addict and the destruction that the addiction leaves in its wake to the addict and the loved one’s of the addict.

Crank is for ages 14 on up. It deals with a serious topic—drug addiction, but it does not laud drug use. Instead, it shows how quickly it can flare up and how utterly devastating it can be on a person’s life. Author Ellen Hopkins wrote this story based on her own daughter Kristina’s addiction. The novel includes an author’s note where Hopkins says that the story and characters are “composites of real people” (Hopkins 2004, Author’s Note) and lets the reader know that the “baby” that “Kristina” bears in the end as a result of date rape in the novel now lives with her husband and herself. One of outstanding qualities of this novel in free verse is Hopkin’s ability to string together a compelling, vivid, poetic narrative of Kristina’s addiction to the monster. Hopkin’s is able to get inside the head of a Crank addict and give the reader a realistic and strong sense of what goes on in the mind and life of an addict. In a Publishers Weekly book review (November 2004), the reviewer says of Crank that “Readers will appreciate the creative use of form here.” This reviewer has it right. Hopkin’s skillfully plays around with the poetic structure of the poems. Some poems will have alternate lines, allowing them to be read separately or together, and some of the poems take on shapes of images she addresses in her poems. Throughout the entire book, Hopkin’s deftly uses punctuation, stanza shaping, and line placing to produce the most impact for each poem. She succeeds. In fact, the School Library Journal (Nov. 2004) describes Hopkin’s free-verse poems as “paint[ing] painfully sharp images of Kristina/Bree and those around her, detailing how powerful the “monster” can be,” and the poems are “masterpieces of word, shape, and pacing, compelling readers on to the next chapter in Kristina’s spiraling world.” I recommend this book for high school students and above. This is a good book to suggest for independent reading. It is also a good one to read snippets of to a class when studying either free verse poetry or the topic of addiction. Also, the librarian can promote the reading of poetry and this book through a book trailer or a book talk. Some parents may not like the book because it deals with teen drug addiction, date rape, teen pregnancy, and other serious issues.

Book Review Quotes:

Publishers Weekly (November 2004):

• “Readers get a vivid sense of the highs and lows involved in using crank.”
• The author “creates a world nearly as consuming and disturbing as the titular drug.”

Kirkus Reviews (October 2004):

• “Hypnotic and jagged free verse wrenchingly chronicles 16-year old Kristina’s addiction to crank.”
• “Powerful and unsettling.”

School Library Journal (Nov. 2004):

• “This is a topical page-turner and a stunning portrayal of a teen’s loss of direction and realistically uncertain future.”

Booklist (Nov. 2004):

• “Readers won’t soon forget smart, sardonic Kristina; her chilling descent into addiction…”

Book Cover Art from Barnes&Noble.com:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Crank/Ellen-Hopkins/e/9780689865190/?itm=4&USRI=crank