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9781933771670

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This uneven collection of essays about Ellen Hopkins's Crank <\i>(2004) and Glass <\i>(2007) combines outside analysis with firsthand perspectives from the people behind the characters. The free-verse novels describe Kristina's (the novelized name of Hopkins' real daughter) spiral downwards into methamphetamine addiction. Here, a treatment expert and a judge with experience sentencing meth addicts provide frank, disquieting chapters about the brain damage that makes meth such a monster. Several authors, conversely, contribute slapdash social analysis and weak literary criticism plagued by unfounded conclusions, straw men and an odd ignorance of young-adult literature (lauding Hopkins as unusual for addressing dark topics, for instance). A grating absence of documentation discourages intertextual follow-up: Crank <\i>and Glass <\i>quotations lack page numbers (and often line breaks, which kills the razor-sharp verse), while other sources lack traceable references. However, fans will flock to the essays by the real Kristina, her stepfather, her sister and the son she bore while on meth (he's now 11). Hardly a model for budding literary critics, but the stronger chapters and 11 new verses from Hopkins will entice - and appropriately frighten - readers. (Nonfiction. YA)<\i> (Kirkus Reviews)

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Ellen Hopkins is a poet and award-winning author, with 20 published nonfiction books for children and five NY Times bestselling young adult novels-in-verse. Her sixth novel publishes August 2009. She is currently hard at work on her seventh and says she hopes for a Printz nomination before she reaches her expiration date. Hopkins lives with her husband, 11-year-old son, two dogs, one cat and a ""whole mess of fish"" on her hilltop estate near Carson City, Nev.

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