Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Pages: 537
Intended Audience: Mature Teens
Genre: Real life / Drug abuse / Novel in verse
Notes for Parents: Deals with many mature issues including drug use, sexuality, date rape. Includes some coarse language.

The Back Cover

Kristina is the perfect daughter: gifted high-school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then she meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ride turns into a struggle for her mind, her soul—her life.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This is a novel written in verse and is loosely based on the author’s own daughter’s experience with crystal meth, or “crank.”

What’s good?

It’s almost painful to witness Kristina, a young, teenaged girl, as she makes the poor decisions that draw her into a world of drug use and abuse. Told in verse, this is a quick but potent read with an even plot and a powerful message. The role that family and friends play in Kristina’s downward spiral is delicately balanced with their equally important role in a hopeful future. It’s tragic to see how easy it is to be seduced by the freedom drugs promise, but this is an excellent cautionary tale about the consequences of that choice.
Best Part: The end—not perfect, but hopeful.

What isn’t good?

Due in part to the verse style but mostly because of the first-person perspective, the entire story lacks depth. There is very little development of secondary characters, and even the main character offers us no detailed understanding as to why she makes all of those bad choices. There are no opposing perspectives, no inside information, and everything happens exactly the way we expect.
Worst part: The style. Verse just did not work for this story.

Recommendation þþþoo

The story was not as edgy as I expected. I’ve been hearing about this novel for years and anticipated much more grit and emotion. The story was good and there were definitely excellent moments and well-written scenes, but overall it was lackluster and offered nothing new. It was a good read, but not a great one.

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