Crank
Realistic fiction
By Ellen Hopkins
Reviewed by Shilo Fuller
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
“Crank is more than a drug. It’s a way of life. You can turn your back. But you can never really walk away.”
These words came from 17-year-old Kristina Georgia Snow, otherwise known as Bree. Kristina is a good student, good daughter, and all around good person. Until she goes to visit her dad on a court ordered visit. While in Albuquerque with her father, Kristina befriends a boy that takes her on “walks with The Monster (crystal meth).” But to this boy Kristina isn’t Kristina. She is Bree, the girl who has taken over Kristina’s mind and eventually her life.
Throughout the book Kristina/Bree falls for the boy who introduced her to The Monster and sent her in a downward spiral toward addiction. Once returning home Bree didn’t change her ways; sh
e found a way to get the drug and two other guys whom she’d never try to get with if she was still her old self.
Ellen Hopkins’ book, Crank, teaches a lesson through verse. Crank shows how young teens are willing to turn their back on everyone who loves them just to get high. Although this book is fiction, it’s based on a true story about Hopkins’ daughter and her own “walks with The Monster.” I love this book; it’s a great way to show how one can get addicted to a drug and how your life could be affected by it. It certainly affected Bree, setting her up for a responsibility for the rest of her life. Crank is only the first book, there is also Glass, Burned, and Impulse.
