Module 14 Crank

Summary:  Kristina is an average young lady.  She grew up with her mother, sister, and brother.  Even though her mother is remarried, things have been normal.  Then she goes to visit her dad.  Everything changes.  She discovers her inner wild child she names “Bree,” and Bree does all kinds of things Kristina would never do.  Bree breaks up a relationship and hooks up with a bad boy.  Bree tries crank and instantly gets addicted to walking with “the monster.”  The time spent at her dad’s changes Kristina’s life.  When she returns, the monster still calls to her.  She has to find new connections to get the crank she craves.  Bree insists on flirting with boys as well as disaster.  Things get worse and worse for Kristina as the addiction gets stronger.  She ends up getting raped, going to jail, dealing crank, and getting pregnant.  It’s the pregnancy that ends up finally releasing Bree and the monster’s hold on Kristina and waking her up to what has happened.  Impression:  For years, students have read and loved this book.  I was never curious enough to try it.  I’m glad I listened to the audio part of the time and read the book part of the time.  The unusual way the words were arranged on the page took an adjustment period, and the audio helped me get into the story itself.  At the same time, the word arrangement was intentional and creative.  The way there was a poem about Adam, and the words were arranged in three hearts added to the feel of the poem; likewise, there was a poem about snow falling, and the words fell whimsically like snow.  It’s not for the faint of heart, and I won’t go around suddenly recommending it to everyone.  I feel better about having it in our library though.  Suggestions for library setting:  These poems make poetry more accessible for students.  I can see these being great springboard poems that kids can try to emulate, not worrying about assonance or symbols but just playing with language, word choice, and word placement.  They could pick a structure like the conversation poems or the prison cinder blocks and try to write in that style.

Hopkins, Ellen.  (2004).  Crank.  New York:  Simon Pulse.

Nonfiction author Hopkins pens her first novel, written in verse, introducing 15-year-old narrator Kristina, who reveals how she became addicted to crank, and how the stimulant turned her from straight-A student to drug dealer, and eventually a teen mom. On a court-ordered visit to see her slimy and long-absent dad, she meets-and is instantly attracted to -- Adam, who sports a "tawny six pack,/and a smile." Soon, Adam introduces her to "the monster" (there, she also unleashes a new personality, id-driven Bree). Her addiction grows, as does Bree's control. Readers get a vivid sense of the highs and lows involved with using crank ("I needed food, sleep,/but the monster denied/every bit of it"). Her life changes quickly: Soon she's dating two guys, both of whom use crank; says "Fuck you" to her mom, can't keep tip with school, and loses her old friends. There are plenty of dramatic moments: The first time she does crank, for example, her dad joins her. That same night, she stumbles into a bad area and is almost raped, and Adam's girlfriend tries to kill herself. Later in the book, she does get raped and starts selling the drug for the Mexican Mafia. Readers will appreciate the creative use of form here (some poems, for instance, are written in two columns that can be read separately or together), and although the author is definitely on a mission, she creates a world nearly as consuming and disturbing as the titular drug.

Crank.  (2004).  Publishers Weekly, 251(44), 63-64.

Hypnotic and jagged free verse wrenchingly chronicles 16-year-old Kristina's addiction to crank. Kristina's dating alter ego, Bree, emerges when "gentle clouds of monotony" smother Kristina's life--when there's nothing to do and no one to connect with. Visiting her neglectful and draggy father for the first time in years, Bree meets a boy and snorts crank (methamphetamine). The rash is irresistible and she's hooked, despite a horrible crank-related incident with the boy's other girlfriend. Back home with her mother, Kristina feels both ignored and smothered, needing more drags and more boys--in that order. One boy is wonderful and one's a rapist, but it's crank holding Bree up at this point. The author's sharp verse plays with spacing on the page, sometimes providing two alternate readings. In a too brief wrap-up, Kristina keeps her baby (a product of rape) while Hopkins--realistically--offers no real conclusion. Powerful and unsettling.

Crank.  (2004).  Kirkus Reviews, 72(19), 961.