basic book review draft 1

In the realistic fiction book Crank by Ellen Hopkins, the life of a teenage girl Kristina is followed as she spirals down in life from addiction to crystal meth. In the story, Kristina goes and visits her father in Albaquerqe one summer where she first tries “the monster” which is what crank is oftenly referred to in the story. Once she returns home she vows that it was only a one time thing, but she ends up continuing her drug use once she gets back home. I believe that Hopkins' target audience for this book are teenagers, ages fourteen and up. I also know that the author's purpose in writing this book is to express events that effected her family.

Based on the topics discussed throughout the story, this book appears to be aimed at a teenagers from the age of 14+. The experiences and thoughts that the main character, Kristina goes through can easily be relatable to many teens today. Obviously, this book is mainly focused on drugs and one issue based on this is experimentation that many teens want to go through during their youth. 

" 'You don't smoke do you? I took a small puff. Struggled like hell not to cough. (pg.75)... It had been a tempstuous week, snared by emotions rubbing me so raw  I hurt at night... So when he asked about getting high, I didn't think, I agreed. We smoked some good California green (pg.85)... "' 'Okay, little girl. Ready to party?' Mom expected me home in ten days. Of course I was sure. Like magic, a mirror and razor blade appeared. I watched him pour powder, yellowish white.(pg.88)."

These three quotes from sections throughout the book are very important in explaining how Kristina slowly gets closer and closer to the drug that ruins her life. She first tries a cigarette, weed, and then "the Monster", crank. Also, I realized that every time she experiments with a new drug, it is under the influence of the boy Adam she met while visiting her dad in Albuquerque.  These two issues of "young love" and divorced parents are also a major part of some teenagers lives. Kristina felt very safe with Adam and they both loved each other so she trusted him and began her experimentation with him. However, when her visit is over and she goes back home to her mom, her and Adam break up and she rarely hears from her dad. She begins rebelling at home, meeting different boys, continuing her use of crank sneaking out of the house, etc. This is also relatable to many teenagers lives because while not every teen does crank  or drugs we all go through a stage where we feel like rebelling against our parents at least some point in our lives. Because of all of the events that take place in the main characters life, i believe that the author's targeted audience for this book are teenagers.
After reading the author's note at the beginning of this book, I have learned exactly how this book reflects Ellen Hopkins' life.

"While this work is fiction, it is loosely based on a very true story- my daughter's... The monster did touch her life, and the lives of her family. My family."

In this book, crank is often referred to as "the Monster".  Just after reading this particular section of the book about the author's life, it is pretty obvious that she wrote it about her daughter and the struggles her drug addiction put on the author and her family. As the reader, we already know that Kristina is soon going to find a way to get crank once she arrives back home. The  author's note also mentions a baby at the end of the book.

“The “baby' at the end of the book is now seven years old, and my husband and I

have adopted him. He is thriving now, but it took a lot of extra love.

Towards the end of this book, Kristina gets pregnant after being raped by one of her classmates on a date. When she finds this out, she makes a promise to herself and the baby that she will not use drugs ever again and that she will be a good mom for her child. Unfortunately, once the child is born Kristina quickly breaks that promise and leaves her family and her child to go back to crank. I also visited the authors website, and learned that Hopkins and her husband have raised her daughter's child all his life. I haven't found any information on the author's real daughter, but I do know that she is not a part of her family or her child's life. The same is for Kristina I believer, an the author has written one other book about this same topic, about Kristina.

Mini Basic Mook Review #2

2.For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)

In the realistic fiction book Crank by Ellen Hopkins, the life of main character Kristina is profiled as a terrible drug begins to take over her life.  The topic of this book is closely related to the author's life. Hopkins' daughter became addicted to crank and it was a tremendous struggle for their whole family, according to the "About the Author" page at the beginning of this book. 


Based on the topics discussed throughout the story, this book appears to be aimed at a teenagers from the age of 14+. The events and thoughts that the main character Kristina goes through and experiences can easily be relatable to many teens today. Obviously (by reading the title) this book is mainly focused on drugs and one issue based on this is experimentation that many teens want to go through during their youth. 

" 'You don't smoke do you? I took a small puff. Struggled like hell not to cough. (pg.75)... It had been a tempstuous week, snared by emotions rubbing me so raw  I hurt at night... So when he asked about getting high, I didn't think, I agreed. We smoked some good California green (pg.85)... "' 'Okay, little girl. Ready to party?' Mom expected me home in ten days. Of course I was sure. Like magic, a mirror and razor blade appeared. I watched him pour powder, yellowish white.(pg.88)."

These three quotes from sections throughout the book are very important in explaining how Kristina slowly gets closer and closer to the drug that ruins her life. If it isn't clear she first tries a cigarette, weed, and then "the Monster" , crank. Also, I realized that every time she experiments with a new drug, it is under the influence of the boy Adam she met while visiting her dad in Albuquerque.  These two issues of "young love" and divorced parents are also a major part of some teenagers lives. Kristina felt very safe with Adam and they both loved eachother so she trusted him and began her experimentation with him. However, when her visit is over and she goes back home to her mom, her and Adam break up and she rarely hears from her dad. She begins rebelling at home, meeting different boys, continuing her use of crank sneaking out of the house, etc. This is also relatable to many teenagers lives because while not every teen does crank  or drugs (thankfully) we all go through a stage where we feel like rebelling against our parents at least some point in our lives. Because of all of the events that take place in the main characters life, i believe that the author's targeted audience for this book are teenagers.

first book review - Crank

[5. Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? How is the author's life reflected in the book?]The book Crank by Ellen Hopkins is fiction story about a girl who struggles to fight a drug addiction. In this book the main character Kristina/Bree (it isn't clear, but it seems as though she has some sort of split personality disorder?) goes to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit her dad for a few weeks. She hasn't seen him since she was a little girl, so she is somewhat surprised to find that he is a 30 -40 year old man who works at a bowling alley, lives in a run down apartment, and does drugs during his free time. While she is on this visit, Kristina meets a boy named Adam and together, he gets her to try crank. During this trip she somewhat becomes addicted to this drug and when she gets home she begins looking for a way to get it.

After reading the author's note at the beginning of this book, I have learned exactly how this book reflects Ellen Hopkins' life.

"While this work is fiction, it is loosely based on a very true story- my daughter's... The monster did touch her life, and the lives of her family. My family."

In this book, crank is often referred to as "the Monster".  Just after reading this particular section of the book about the author's life, it is pretty obvious that she wrote it about her daughter and the struggles her drug addiction put on the author and her family. I have so far made it about half way through the book, however it is just at the part where she is back home with her mom, step dad, little brother and older sister. As the reader, we already know that she is soon going to find a way to get crank, but I haven't reached the part where the author clearly goes into depth about Kristina's addiction. The  author's note also mentions a baby at the end of the book (which is kind of a spoiler to the reader) and that this baby is real and that the author and her husband now takes care of this baby. However, there isn't much mentioned about what happens to her daughter, but maybe the end of the book will be the same as what happens to Ellen Hopkins' daughter in real life.

Vignette Project Reviews

After reading through the vignettes of my classmates, I have come to realize that many have some sort of connection to a family or multiple family members in at least one of their vignettes. Three of these vignette projects which I found this pattern in were in Tony, Justice, and Ashli's. All three of these vignettes included  some sort of comparison between multiple family members.

In Tony's vignette "Humerus" he discusses the different senses of humor that are present in his family and compares each one to the other.

"My dad’s idea of a joke [...] an range from very light and funny to really funny and a crying little brother... My brother has not yet developed a sense of humor ... My mom’s sense of humor on the other hand is very subtle. It is sometimes hard to tell when she thinks something is funny."

 In this specific vignette, the comparison is sense of humor within Tony's family. He goes through each of the members in his family and discusses how their sense of humor varies and how they compare to one another. He also talks about his personal views of each of these peoples sense of humor. For example, Tony talks about how he sees his dad's jokes very funny, while his little brothers are very juvenile and do  not seem funny to him, and how most of the time he can't understand his mother's sense of humor.

In Justice's vignette "Shoes and all Their Necessities", she talks about the different types of shoes her family members wear and how much they care about them, including herself.

 "My mom loves boots that sit high on her legs [...] My dad's shoes spell out sports... when he's going to work he pulls out the fancy shoes [...] [My little brother] always has to have the latest kicks whether it’s blazers to the new pairs of jordan’s [...] Im simple open to any shoe as long as it’s cute and I’m not thinking about it."

Here Justice compares the different shoes her mom, dad, little brother, and herself wear and how important or picky a person is on what shoes they have. She talks about how her mom likes to wear boots, her dad wears sports shoes and dress shoes, and how her little brother is obsessive over which shoes he has. She compares him to Paris Hilton since he cannot seem to go a couple of weeks with out having the latest shoes that are out. Justice talks about herself and how she is very far from caring so much about shoes like her brother. This is another vignette which multiple family members are compared through a certain topic.

Finally, in Ashli's vignette "Hairs" she talks about the many differences in types of hair of people in her family.

"Everyone in my family is different even their hair is different including me..Everyone in my family, that includes: my dad, my mom, my sister, and me, our hair all have our differences."

The differences Ashli discusses are hair texture, color, and hair styles that each person in her family wears. She compares her mom, dad, sister and herself and discusses each of these points of comparisons of different type of hair that are present within this group of people.  Again, this is another vignette that uses a point of comparison to show differences between multiple family members.