Crank by Ellen Hopkins

This narrative poem tells the story of Kristina, whose visit to her father occasions her first experience with methamphetamine, and lead to an addiction she finds difficult to control.  Kristina has an alter-ego, Bree, the name she uses for herself when she is being self-destructive.  Kristina's addiction leads to a plethora of problems with the people around her.  She becomes distanced from her family, gains a bad reputation around town, and faces sexual assault and rape.  Her drug problem makes her relationships even more confusing and complicated than the typical teen.   This book paints a terrifying picture of meth addiction.  As Kristina becomes more and more out of control, Bree takes control and leads her to a horrifying situation she never anticipated, and is not necessarily ready to face. 

Analysis:  Crank has a very interesting poetic style; the reader first reads as one normally would, from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, but prompted by odd spacing and arrangement soon realizes that a second poem is occurring along the left or right, the original poem occurring around and within it.  This technique is difficult to describe and really has to be seen to be understood.  Hopkins employs a visual element as well.  Often stanzas of poetry are arranged into shapes which have their own individual meanings.  At one point Kristina/Bree is coming down from meth and the stanzas are arranged to look like arrows pointing towards the bottom of the page.  The stylistic elements of this book are just as, if not more, striking than the actual narrative.  More visually-oriented students may be drawn in by this technique.  Also, the interesting use of poetry is likely to generate an interest in the poetic for students who otherwise think of poetry as boring, flowery, old-fashioned and meaningless.  This book would be most appropriate for high-school (9-12) students due to it's disturbing content.  Some teachers might even want to confine it to the 10th and 12th grades.

Ideas for Class Use:  As mentioned above, the poetic style of Crank is extremely unique, and could serve to inspire students to pursue their own poetic ideas.  Challenge students to create their own poetry using either the techniques used by Hopkins or their own ideas.  Remind them that although Shakespeare and Homer observed rigid stylistic constraints, poetry today really has no rules, the roof doesn't exist!