Crank is a book I have read recently, and I immediately fell in love with it. This book is told in verses, and is about a normal teenage girl, whose dad left her when she was seven. He didn’t really “leave her,” although he actually was forced to. The dad of the teenage girl, Kristina, did pot (a type of drug). Then, on a fateful day when Kristina turned seventeen, her whole world turned upside down.

Kristina had permission to fly from her home in Reno to her Dad’s house. When she came home, expecting a loving father, she was wrong. Her dad still did pot, and Kristina was devastated. Kristina’s life went all down the mudslide from there. On her first night there, Kristina discovered the joys and pains of living. When she went out on the balcony, two other people stood there. They both looked like boyfriend and girlfriend. It was at that moment Kristina changed from a straight-A student to a drug addict.

The boy she saw with a girl (she later learns the girl’s name) is looking at her. She goes up to him, and he becomes her first love. Adam, her newfound boyfriend also introduces her to crank, (another drug), and she changes from nerdy, loving, friendly Kristina to aggressive, mean, and evil Bree. The Kristina inside of her body tells her it’s wrong, but every time Bree stomps Kristina away. Pretty soon Kristina gives up. She lets Bree take over, and she falls victim to drugs and violence. Kristina wakens up every once in a while, popping a question to Bree, but Bree ignores her. Pretty soon, crank is telling Bree what choices to make, for all the wrong reasons.

Bree ends up getting two boyfriends when she moves back to her house. One of them rapes her, and other which actually loves her. Pretty soon Bree, “The Monster,” has finally made Kristina turn into only a wisp of a personality. Kristina is a memory of the past. Bree is the only part of her body left. Kristina’s family finally figures out what was going on. Her mother goes into Bree’s room and has a talk with her. Bree, under the influence of drugs, lies to her, saying she has only tried pot and hated every minute of it. Her mother eats the lie right up, but notes to question her later if she continues to act like she is. Even her sister tries to have a talk with her. But Bree tells the same lie she told her mom, while Kristina weeps internally.

This is the story of a teenage girl’s journey through drugs, and how she tries to gain back her mind and soul.Crank is a work of fiction, though it is loosely based on Ellen Hopkins’ daughter’s fight with “The Monster.”

Other books by Ellen Hopkins are:

Burned
Impulse
Identical
Glass (The sequel to Crank)

Crank teaches teens how drugs can kill your body, little by little, and how it will change your life - for if you take it, you may think you escaped its grasp but it will just grab you back. Though the spine is thick, you will race through the pages of Crank, and the smack-down conclusion will make you take your breath away. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.