When I told my leetle seester about the 52 Book Challenge, she handed me "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins.

Now, you should know something about me: I've never read the Twilight books. In my adolescent days you couldn't drag me out of the teen section in a book store. I was the kid who read unicorn novels at recess. However, I gave up on tween novels years and years ago (OK, I set my last one down maybe six years ago). This book is written for 14-year-olds, but my sister -- despite being barely into "teen"-dom -- is also one of the most intelligent human beings I am privileged to know. She can pick out Bach by ear on a cello, for Einstein's sake.

So when she handed me the book and told me it was good, I accepted.

First, you should know that although "Crank" is thick -- 537 pages -- it is, in fact, a quick read. Hopkins wrote the book in a lyrical, poetic form. At times, this is annoying. There are a lot of tabs, awkward spaces and she fully employs the use of shape poems, which I thought could be left in elementary school.

And at times, it is beautiful. The book opens with "Flirtin' with the Monster."

Flirtin' with the Monster

Life was good
before I met
the monster.

After,

life
was great.

At
least
for a little while.

And yet, through the use of poetry, Hopkins cuts through a lot of the B.S. that so often fills teen novels. In doing so, she finds her character's voice without the struggle other authors might have been through. She gets straight to the heart of the character, a 17-year-old girl named Kristina who, while on vacation visiting her father, discovers an alter-ego she calls Bree.

During her summer vacation, she also discovers her two first loves: a boy named Adam, and methamphetamine.

Now, I am cautious when it comes to teen novels about drugs. There's a certain degree of D.A.R.E.-like smoke-and-mirrors that come into play in this book. Kristina, or "Bree" when she's using, gets caught up in an unusually fast downward spiral. She snorts meth, and is addicted immediately. A "good" girl turns bad, following the "monster" on her path to destruction. This downward spiral leads to really bad choices, instant rebellion, the disentigration of her relationships and a lot of other tragic stuff that I won't spoil for you.

Don't get me wrong: here in Appalachia, we see a lot of the damage that meth, or "crank," can do. It's a highly dangerous drug with a high potential for addiction. As a journalist, I once covered a drug bust in which cops took apart a "mobile meth lab" that someone was traveling with in their car. They carefully took from the car's back seat jars of chemicals and bags of sticky yellow-white substance. They also removed from that red sedan a black child's booster seat. Not exactly what I'd call responsible living.

Reading "Crank" in the land of billboards that depict meth addicts with rotted teeth and dull eyes -- and the land of frequent double-wide fires -- has definitely given me perspective. However, I tried to read this book, to hear it's message, with the eyes, ears and heart of its audience: a 14-year-old. I feel that this novel, like so many other good teen novels, not only speaks about drugs, but about the uncertainty of adolescence. It is a time of great, scary, beautiful change. It's easy to feel alone, as though no one in the world understands; it is a time of learning about oneself, and about others. "Crank" speaks to all of that.

The author certainly has an investment in scaring children away from meth. In the author's note, Hopkins writes: "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. It is hard to watch someone you love fall so deeply under the spell of a substance that turns him for her into a stranger."

I'm grateful my sister handed me this book. It gives us a lot of things to talk about: first love, illegal drugs and sex. After finishing this poetic novel, I don't think this book leans too heavily against the "don't do drugs" mantra; I think, in the end, it is a beautiful way to start a conversation. In the end, I think that's the best thing that parents, siblings and mentors can do to steer teens away from dangerous situations: talk to them. I'm all for open, honest conversations -- and listening. I'm an advocate for building trust and for communication.

In the end, I would reccomend this quick read and quick glimpse into the mind of a teenage girl who loses her way. It might help you start a conversation with an adolescent who is important to you -- a conversation about things that are not, at all, easy to talk about. Ultimately, it might also cause you think back on that time in your life, and how dramatically things might have changed. ( )

This beautifully written novel in verse is juxtaposed with the ugly monster, crank, which plays the villain of the piece. Thought provoking, intense poetics are intertwined with crass, shocking, detailed descriptions of a young girl’s life spiraling out of control as she falls headlong into her addiction. The author has a gift of creating vivid imagery with just a few carefully chosen words. Also, the lyrics are cleverly arranged on the page and presented in such a way that they can be read two ways. This is hard to describe, but quite impressive. At first, I worried that the descriptions might be too much for a teen, but upon reflection, I think the realistic and powerful portrayal of addiction this books explores will provide a warning to teens and adults alike about just how quickly and easily things can get out of control. The raw descriptions of things like rape, suicide attempts and drug use are all very scary and jarring, but that adds to the draw of this tale. This is not a book to be read lightly, as the words themselves are carefully chosen and in order to get the full effect, the words need to be absorbed and pondered. My one complaint about the language is that at the beginning, it reads like a poem, but towards the middle, it reads more like a novel, only to return to poem again. It did seem to match the pace, so maybe it was intentional, but it sometimes felt like the author was losing steam. This book held my attention the entire way through, and left me drained, yet wanting more. I think the character and subject matter would be more than interesting for today’s young adults. ( )

Although I know how popular this book has been at surrounding high schools and that it is the Abraham Lincoln 2009 winner, I was fairly ambivelent about reading it, even after having listened to the author speak at the ISLMA Conference. However, once started, I realized the book's compelling quality - the character's first person free verse pulls the reader in like the crank she's come to know. Could hardly put it down until I had finished it (fortunately, it reads quickly). My overall recommendation for the book is only somewhat tampered by the lack of closure at book's end. Realization of a sequel, however, chipped away at my intrigue for the book. Must every literary work own a sequel? Do authors no longer quest to write the "Great American Novel" just for the sake of writing "the Great American Novel" or, is everything about making a buck? And apparently, this one on the back of the author's daughter's own personal experiences.

At any rate, I regard Crank as a title that should be recommended to parents as much as (or more than) students. Watching Kristina's spiral downward was heartbreaking. Crank's greatest redeeming quality could be the heartbreak it spares. ( )

... exackly that a book about a young girl on drugs, sad and scary at times. The author wites in verse format. My first read of that type, she makes the words just of the page with emotion. Wonderful book for a first time writed. Definatly a page turner ... you need to know whats next. ( )

omggg it was so goood! ( )