Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Seventeen year old Kristina Georgia Snow says "Crank is more than a drug. It's a way of life. You can turn your back but you can never really walk away". Kristina is a high school student who isn't quite what you would say is a normal kid. She's normal yes, but her friends aren't. Her life contains an older sister who is a lesbian, an attractive mom who is divorced, a dead beat father, an annoying but perfect younger brother and a step father. Kristina feels trapped; her life is completely scheduled until she goes to her dad's house over the summer and that's when everything changes for Kristina. Kristina's first encounter with "the monster", also known as meth or "crank", was with a boy, Adam; she met and fell in love with him while visiting her drug-addicted father in Albuquerque. However, no one in Albuquerque knew her as Kristina. Everyone knew her as Bree, the alter ego who would soon take over Kristina's life. The substance turned Kristina from being one of the members of the Cleaver family to a total stranger. Kristina was exactly that, an outsider. The monster turned Kristina away from her old friends and old love affairs. Kristina turned her back on everyone who loved and cared about her. Bree had taken over completely and had made Kristina fall in love with drug addicted people, like Chase. The monster had changed her life significantly and she found out at a youthful age things would never be the same. Throughout the book, Kristina's life changed dramatically as she went through a constant battle with Bree. Kristina went through withdrawals from "crank". As if times weren't hard enough trying to fight for her life back from drugs, she finds out she’s pregnant at the age of seventeen.


Kristina is constantly falling deeper and deeper and Bree has taken full control of her. Bree has stripped Kristina from her friends, her family and her life. Bree made Kristina blow off her "not so popular" friends for the taste of the high. Bree stole Kristina from her family with whom she was just starting to get along. Also, Bree took Kristina from a life of her own, a life free of drugs. Kristina finally breaks away from the life of Bree when she knows she needs to make a difference in her baby's life and no one can do it better than she.

I liked this book because the author captured me into Kristina's life. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen to her and I understood Kristina's pain and why she was doing what she was doing. I think other students would like this book because the main character is a teenager going through the pressures of teenage life.

Jamie D.