Christine Pfau
1-5-09
E.C. Book Review
Glass is the continued tale of the penalties Kristina; a typical teenager must go through because of a drug addiction. Being the sequel to Crank, Ellen Hopkins again provides the reader with intense poetry that shows how disturbing addiction can really be. Kristina Georgina Snow was just an average girl from Reno, Nevada, until “the monster” took the reins of her life. This book shows the struggle of trying to stay clean and alert, the trials and tribulation of being a good mother, a good daughter and sister, and how substance abuse can push loved ones away. “Told in verse, it’s a harrowing and disturbing look at addiction and the damage it inflicts.” (Hopkins inside front cover) This book gives the reader much insight to gain about the nature of addiction. The author wasn't afraid to show just how long someone addicted to drugs can get. The book takes you on a journey, that you feel like you are in yourself. Ellen Hopkins does a great job of taking us on this painful trip that was loosely based on her own daughter's experiences with the monster. The book shows many of today’s life lessons of Kristina’s through good and bad learning experiences. ( )

I read Glass, the sequel of Crank, by Ellen Hopkins. This story is about a girl named Kristina, also known as Bree. Ufortunately, Kristina lives the life of a drug addict. In Crank, Kristina is raped, and she ends up pregnant. Glass starts shortly after Kristina has the baby, Hunter. Glass cotinues with Kristina's problems with her child, love life, and drug addiction.
I enjoyed this book. It's nice to read somethig about reality. Problems in this book are't glorified; they are presented as they really are. Glass helps teens make the right decision by not doing drugs because it represents what could happen. ( )

Loosely based on the author's own daughter's experience with meth, this is the continuing story of how meth can take over a life to an inevitably disasterous end. ( )

This book wasn't as good as I thought it'll be. But is was better than Crank! Kristina and Bree are addicted again! But this time, they put their baby, Hunter, in danger too! What'll they do? Just wait and see! Now a new boy is in their lives, after Chase leaving then for university! Name's Trey, and hopefully this one'll stay! ( )

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Ellen Hopkins has once again taken readers into the world of meth and the chaos it creates. GLASS is the sequel to her first novel about Kristina called CRANK.

Just several months after giving birth to her son, Hunter, Kristina is drawn back to "the monster." She thinks a little snort could help her lose some weight and get her through the late-night feedings and day-to-day drudgery of constant baby needs. Surprised at how easy it is to score and how much the product has improved, it doesn't take long for Kristina to remember how great the stuff makes her feel.

For awhile the teen mom is able to take care of Hunter, hold down a low paying job, and keep herself cranked just enough to pretend her life isn't all that bad. Despite what Kristina may think, her mother and stepfather, Scott, are not really fooled into thinking all is well. They give her just enough space to eventually crash and burn. After falling asleep and putting the baby in danger, Kristina's mother throws her out of the house. She says she'll take care of Hunter, and Kristina should take care of herself.

Like most addicts, Kristina fools herself into believing she can have it all. She manages to keep her job and find a place to live with the cousin of her latest love interest. Once again her life is filled with drugs, sex, and whatever she has to do to survive. At times there is hope of reconnecting with family, but each time Kristina can't cope with their expectations and ends up with less and less of their love and support.

For readers who followed Kristina's painful journey in CRANK, this next book will illustrate the power of meth to completely change and destroy a life and the lives of anyone connected with the addict. Hopkins speaks from personal experience, which creates a powerful, heart-wrenching, and all too real quality to her verse. As they say, it's a life you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. ( )

Its so touching, makes you never want to do the drug. The ending!! When she gets put in jail, and shes pregnant!! I wanted a happier ending. AHS/MB

Its really “crazy” it shows EVERYTHING she goes through and helps you understand her life and the life of a meth addict. It shows you everything that does/could happen if you let a drug take you over. Even thought people are ther for you, you may focus on things you think are more important. It was GREAT, it started right where Crank left off. AHS/KP

I loved everything. the main character doesn't really didn't really relate to me but my mom was addicted to "glass" at one point and it made me relize how fast it is to get hooked. But I LOVE this book and its sequel! :D

I liked that this book was written in a poem like matter. It really kept my attention. I also liked how it talked about a real life situation , and how it wasn't exactly the happiest ending, but it still ended happy. the reason because this girl was really good until she went to her dads and she became a hardcore druggy. Later she had a kid, but after having teh kid she went back to drugs. But later on she got busted by the cops and went to jail, and I think that scared her because she quit after going to jail. AHS/SD

After absolutely loving Crank I just had to get my hands on Glass to read more about Kristina’s story. I devoured the 688 pages in only a matter of a few hours. Glass is a powerful story about a young girl coping with being a teen mom, and also a drug addiction. We watch as she spirals out of control, and takes all these wrong turns and looses herself.

Glass left me wanting more, and I’m excited for the next book about Kristina George Snow to appear in 2010, titled Fallout. Ellen Hopkins is a powerful writer, and she speaks such volume with her words.

I love how all of Hopkins’ stories are told through verse and I believe that it gives them a much more powerful meaning. ( )

Ellen Hopkins' Glass and Crank are this generation's Go Ask Alice. Hard hitting and graphic, the novel really gets to the heart of a life torn apart by drugs. What makes the story even more frightening is that it is based off of her own daughter's battle with meth. Not recommended for middle school readers, because of the adult situations and graphic sexual scenes. ( )

Glass by Ellen Hopkins is the follow up to Crank. It continues the story of Kristina (and Bree) as she plummets further into the addiction of Crystal Meth, making choices that have more far-reaching consequences.

Initially, I wasn't sure if I liked this. The verse that was so amazing in Crank felt a little forced here. The narration in the first few pages felt more like regular prose trying to be played off as poetry, but with still only a few lines per page. The writing improved over the pages, though, and threw me back into the dizzying world I was introduced to in Crank. I had some immensely negative thoughts about this story, but this is a compliment to Hopkins's ability to draw the reader into Kristina's world and addiction. Listening in to Kristina's thoughts and decision making angered and disgusted me. I work in the field of child welfare and have worked with many individuals just like Kristina with whom I have had to empathize. This book didn't make me any more sympathetic to the plight of these parents; if anything, it showed me how many times Kristina had the opportunity to turn her life around and continued to make the wrong choices. I wanted to scream at her and shake sense into her. But I cheered on the mother at doing what she needed to do to protect her family. So many families inadvertently enable their family members to keep using by trying to be supportive in other ways. The mother in this book does a great job of not doing that, while still trying to remain supportive when possible. The ability of an author to elicit such emotions from a reader signifies a great writer and story-teller, and Ellen Hopkins does just that! As frustrated as I became while reading this, I look forward to her other books! ( )

this book disappointed me i did like it but i think that the follow up to crank could have been better. still a good book still a quick read interesting to see where she takes her life and what happens but its worth the read even though it could have been a bit better ( )

this book was a quick read. i had a good time reading it. this book was the sequal to the book crank.

Glass is a very realistic and exicting drama. Kirstina is so much deep in trouble with her life, and she seemed like she really doesnt care. I love reading books where people complety give up on life, only to find out life will never give in to you.

This book was amazing also. The end keeps you wondering what happens next and if there is going to be another book like that! ( )

“Glass”, like its namesake, is addictive, impossible to forget and has me craving more. ( )

This story follows a 17 year old girl named Kristina Georgia Snow, who was a quiet, smart, talented high school student, until a trip to visit her neglecting father changes the course of her life forever. Within days of her visit, she becomes instantly hooked on a boy named Adam, smoking cigarettes, and to the “monster”, meth. She also begins to identify herself as a girl named “Bree”, who is fearless, confident, pervasive, and dangerous.
Coming of age is definitely a major theme of this book as it follows Kristina’s dark path to insanity, but another theme illustrated is the idea of making the right choices. We are all constantly faced with choices, and Hopkins does a really good job portraying the reality of the consequences to what choices Kristina makes on her journey. Ellen Hopkins has a unique way of writing her stories through poetry. Kristina (who narrates) is funny and witty and speaks in a very conversational way. Although the book is almost 600 pages long, there aren’t a lot of words on each page, and there’s usually some sort of pattern to the layout of the text. An example of this is when Bree is describing her experience with the drug ecstasy, and the words on the page form the letter “E.” Putting the words into different formats on the page is just a little way of keeping the reader intrigued and gives more of an illustration.
One of the most interesting things about this story is that it doesn’t fit into only one genre. It follows Kristina through relationships with family, friends, and strangers, and shows her battle with drugs. It doesn’t quite fit in romance, because her experience with relationships hasn’t quite been “romantic”, but more or less tragic and heartbreaking.
I feel like this book was very realistic, and it kept me interested because there were so many unexpected shifts in the plot that deal with a lot of somewhat normal situations in most teenager’s lives. It definitely sends the right message that drugs can really damage everything in your life, no matter how much you may think you’re in control. What helped make this story seem so real is the fact that Ellen Hopkins has dealt with the effect of the monster within her own family, so she knows the true feelings and emotions that are portrayed in this story. I would definitely recommend this book for my fellow classmates, because it’s exciting and really intriguing.

This was my favorite book by ellen hopkins. i have read all of her other ones but this was the best. it was full of surprises and excitement. i enjoyed following the girls life throughout the novel. i recommend this book to anyone who likes poem books. ( )

Crank, Glass, the monster; Methamphetamine. Different names, same reaction. Whether she is Kristina or Bree, she is destructive and destroying her life. This novel is truely inspiring, but no one should have to go through. Crank and Glass are based on a true story.

Glass by Ellen Hopkins is the sequel to Crank. In glass, Kristina's adventure with the monster(Methamphetamine) continues on once again. She is still stuggling with keeping it under control, but this time she has more problems; Hunter, her mom, her stepdad, and Trey. Hunter is her son, who she got from a accident with the crank (she was going to get high when she was raped). Her mom and stepdad are on her about getting her G.E.D. so she can continue on with her dreams, and she then meets Trey when she starts meth all over again. In the end, she gets busted with a half a pound of meth, after stealing from her mom. She goes to prison, and while in prison, she ginds out she is pregnant. She is hoping for a brighter future, all over again.

I absolutely loved Glass, and think it was more interesting then Crank. I can totally relate to having an addiction that is not good for you (nothing like that though). I was totally mesmorized while I was reading Glass. I give this book two thumbs up and recommend it to anyone who has an interest in learning about the effect of Meth on a person and their personal life. ( )

This was a really good book. It really showed the effects that meth can have on a person. It was interesting and easy to read and it kept me interested the whole time. ( )

This was a very worthy sequel to Crank. Things happened pretty much the way they would have happened in real life. It's a very sad read because of Kristina's descent into hell, of course, and the ending is less hopeful than Crank's because there doesn't seem to be any way out of her situation this time. But I look forward to a third Kristina book, assuming Hopkins writes one.

My only issue is that the poetry didn't seem as artful or creative as it did in the first book. But I quibble -- this verse novel was excellent. ( )

This book is really addicting, I couldn't put it down. The writing in "Glass" is something different than what you would be used to seeing. The story behind this book is really good, it is about an eight-teen year old girl who has a kid and who is addicted to meth. This is the second book of a series, the first one is "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins

Joelle B ( )

Pretty good book. Not my favroite from this author, but I Couldn;t help but keep reading, I just needed to know what happend. I personally recomend this to teen readers intrested in addiction ( )

This was a very impressive sequel, and even somewhat better than the first book in it's series. Like Crank, it was very hard to put down this book until I was done reading it. ( )

Glass was better than crank. It had more going on and was more realistic ( )

YOung girl meets a man (Monster) whom is an bad influence gets her in to hard core drugs and get her pregnant.

Grade Levels: 10-12 Category: Realistic Fiction

Read Alouds: pp. 15-21 (the new beginning); 36-48 (the plan to go down); 76-92 (glass); 153-158 (realizes addiction); 234-258 (18th birthday); 347-359 (kicked out of the house); 533-544 ( the whorehouse); 599-618 (playing house); 654-681 (jail and the end)

Summary: This the continuation of Kristina Snow’s story as a meth addict that began in Hopkins’ book Crank. In this sequel she discovers the more powerful and pure form of meth known as glass. She continues her descent into madness only now she has a child to care for. The story follows her need to spend more and more time with meth and less and less with her son. Her parents eventually take legal custody of him. The story also chronicles how she begins to deal and steal to support her habit. It ends with Kristina in jail, pregnant with her second child.

Themes: The book begins with Kristina wanting to wean her child as quickly as possible so that she can go back to using meth. She continues to distance herself from motherhood. She almost misses Hunter’s baptism. She crashes out when she is supposed to be watching him (She didn’t even know that he could roll over) and his crying doesn’t wake her up. She chooses not to spend Christmas (his first) with her son. She misses Easter with him too. The only motherly thing she does is call her mom to come get Hunter when she realizes that her new home with her boyfriend is no place for a baby. When she mentions Hunter, sometimes it is with love, but as the story goes, we can tell that she loves herself and her habit more. In fact, she loves her habit more than she loves herself. When she scores her first post-child meth from her former friend, we see the condition of Robyn and know that Kristina is headed down the same road. (Even though she promises herself to stop before she gets that bad.) When Robyn ends up whoring for the drug, Kristina looks down on her, but her own situation is not all that different.

Discussion Questions:
How does the Kristina/Bree relationship change from the beginning of the book to the end? Which one is the voice of reason?
Describe Kristina’s relationship with Trey. Why are they together?
Did Kristina’s mom do the right thing by kicking her out of the house? Why or why not?
How is the ending of this book like the beginning? Will Kristina change?

Reader Response:
Hooray for Kristina’s mom kicking her to the curb!! Even though it didn’t help Kristina much, it probably saved Hunter. I was sickened as I read through Kristina’s “me and my meth first” mentality. Babies change and grow so much that first year and she missed most of it. How completely sad. ( )