Hopkins – Crank

Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. New York: Simon Pulse, 2004. 537 pp.

Crank is a novel written in free verse loosely based on Hopkins’ daughter’s addiction to meth. Kristina was a perfect high school junior – good grades, good friends, etc. etc. But, when she takes a trip out of town on her own, the wild-girl ‘Bree’ inside of her is set loose. When Bree hooks up the “the monster” (crank), her whole word comes crashing down.

So, this week I’m writing a review about a book I didn’t read.

Well, that is; about a book I didn’t finish.

A week or so ago, a co-worker & I were discussing Hopkins & her books. She had just read Crank. I had never read any of Hopkins’ work but I was familiar with the titles, what they were about, etc. When I saw that Hopkins was on this week’s reading list I snatched one up. I didn’t know if I would like reading a novel in verse (I’ve never tried one before), but I thought I’d give it a try.

Now, I love poetry & I think that it’s a very powerful medium (Stevie Smith & E. E. Cummings are a couple favorites). I also have a fondness for books which discuss terrible things in toe-curling detail; for instance, I love reading all the horrible things Chuck Palahniuk or Irvine Welsh put in their novels. That is to say; I’ve never thought myself a squeamish reader.

However, I couldn’t finish Crank.

I read most of it in one sitting, but once I put it down, I realized that I was dreading picking it back up. Just looking at the stark black cover filled me with sadness. When I finally did pick it back up (after it stared at me for a couple of days), I realized that was in a hurry to put it back down. I felt like I had some sort of ticking time-bomb in my hands; that I was holding a chunk of soul-crushing depression somehow coalesced into a physical object. I caught myself skimming through it. It was just too much; too emotional & too piercing. I’m sure that I could have read the same story in prose without any problems whatsoever, but in verse, it was a whole other experience. I decided that it was more respectful to simply put it down than to insult the work by simply skimming through it.

All that being said, Crank is amazing. Any book which can elicit that kind of emotional response deserves some serious respect & admiration.

I enjoyed a lot of the popular reviews of this book, with descriptions as varied as “important,”[1] “interesting,”[2] & “horrific.”[3] However, for once I found a professional review that seemed like a genuinely thoughtful review, rather than simply a blurb. The review ends with; “Hopkins uses the spare, fragmented style to powerful effect, heightening the emotional impact of dialogues, inner monologues, and devastating scenes, including a brutal date rape. Readers won’t soon forget smart, sardonic Kristina; her chilling descent into addiction; or the author’s note, which references her own daughter’s struggle with “the monster.””[4]

My aforementioned co-worker has a hand in an upcoming ALA publication entitled True Stories of Censorship Battles in American Libraries & she just got Ellen Hopkins to agree to write the forward. Certainly Crank would be a excellent addition to any banned book display.[5] It would also fit in for a poetry display or a substance-abuse or a social issues display. However, I would hesitate to recommend it as good booktalk book. For that matter, I think this will be a difficult book for me to recommend to patrons unless they display a marked interest in the subject matter &/or novels in verse. It certainly is, as I said, amazing; but perhaps a bit too raw for me to be comfortable recommending it.

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[1] pinkymccoversong, “Crank” LibrayThing. August 31, 2008. http://www.librarything.com/work/189755 (accessed 5/2/2010).

[2] DFLA_CierraG, “Crank” LibrayThing. October 22, 2008. http://www.librarything.com/work/189755 (accessed 5/2/2010).

[3] EliSparkie, “Crank” LibrayThing. June 9, 2009. http://www.librarything.com/work/189755 (accessed 5/2/2010).

[4] “Crank.” Booklist Reviews. 15 November 2004. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3 http://ts3b.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=6&ps=6&fr=0&anc=6&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A\webapp\ts3\main\users\ls000291.rec&AF=76736&FirstRec=Y (accessed5/2/2010)

[5] “The YA books Crank and Glass were banned from a Norman, Oklahoma middle school library after author Ellen Hopkins donated a free school appearance. The school district superintendent also cancelled Hopkin’s visit. In response, Hopkins penned “Manifesto,” a poem about censorship, which is featured on the official Banned Book Week site.” Donalyn Miller. “Banned Book Week,” Teacher Magazine; Teacher Blogs. 22 Sept. 2009. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2009/09/banned_book_week.html (accessed 5/2/2010).

Asher – Th1rteen R3asons Why

Asher, Jay. Th1rteen R3asons Why. New York: Razorbill, 2007.

Asher’s novel Th1rteen R3asons Why starts out with the main character already dead. Before her suicide, Hannah Baker arranged for a box of 7 cassette tapes to be delivered to the 13 people most responsible for her death. Each side of each tape tells the story of how one person contributed to Hannah’s death. We are forced into the story through the mind of Clay Jensen, a classmate & crush of Hannah’s. His own story alternates with Hannah’s voice as he listens to her tell her story. The instructions on the tape lead him all around their small town so that Clay stands in the same places Hannah did as she slowly built up her reasons for wanting to die.

I really liked this book; it was raw & brutal & altogether believable. Asher creates a horribly flawed, damaged person in Hannah who plays out the inherent selfishness of suicide in her own unrepentant attitude (read: not her fault; everyone else’s fault) & in her explanation/ revenge tapes. Hannah’s pain is palpable, but not quite as intense as Clay’s – which we as the readers are forced to endure along with him. The best part of the book was simply that Hannah was not a girl who had lead a horrible, terrible life – sure, bad things happened to her, but not the kind of bad things that most people think would lead a teen to suicide. This is, I think, why I liked the book so much; it doesn’t take a huge horrible thing to push a person in that state of mind over the edge; just a bunch of little things which pile up on one another. A lot of the reviews I read didn’t seem to get this – they felt that most of the things she dealt with were little more than “a fleeting pain in the ***,”[1] & that Hannah was “whiney and her reasons for suicide… were so dumb… she never wanted to stand up, take responsibility for anything and she blamed everyone else.”[2] Hannah declares that “everything affects everything;” & in many ways, that’s true. We are left with Clay – waiting with abated breath for each & every tape to find out what he did, what his horrible crime against Hannah was. In the end, Clay’s part seemed minor, but the message is clear; sometimes it’s the little things we do that cause the most damage.

I found a number of great reviews of the book, but instead of picking up professional reviews like usual, I wanted to grab a popular one – a book this good & this controversial sparks a lot of talk. Calico Reaction has a lengthy & insightful review. She writes about “why it’s a GOOD book and sends the RIGHT message, and why it’s a BAD book and sends the WRONG message” – an approach I appreciate.[3] On the “GOOD/ RIGHT,” side: Clay is redeemed &, Calico Reaction suggests, serves as a reminder for anyone contemplating suicide that there is someone out there who cares about you. On the “BAD/ WRONG” side of things, Calico Reaction worries “that someone with Hannah’s state of mind might read the book and see Hannah as a hero;”[4] an idea which I think is valid to some extent, but I think that the reader is forced into feeling so much of Clay’s pain that anyone “in Hannah’s state of mind,” would really have to look long & hard at how their decision will affect the lives of their loved ones – which seems to me like a pretty good suicide-stopper.

This would be a pretty hard book to use in a library setting; I can’t imagine that a suicide-themed book group would go over too well & a librarian would have to know their teen patron pretty well to recommend it as a straight-up good read – the book is altogether too didactic for that. On the other hand, it would be an excellent addition to any display along the lines of the traditional “teen issues” theme.

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[1] Taren, “Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher,” The Chick Manifesto. 23 Jul. 2009. http://thechickmanifesto.blogspot.com/2009/07/thirteen-reasons-why-by-jay-asher.html (accessed 3/7/2010).

[2] ibid. please see the comment by GreenBeanTeenQueen (as an aside, I LOVE the GreenBeanTeenQueen & her reviews in general; she seems so delightfully upbeat in her blog that I would almost be saddened if she was really able to relate so someone as messed-up as Hannah… please don’t hate me GBTQ).

[3] White, Shara Saunsaucie, “Asher, Jay: Thirteen Reasons Why,” Calico Reaction. 11 Feb., 2010. http://calico-reaction.livejournal.com/148215.html (accessed 3/7/2010).

[4] ibid.



Yang – American Born Chinese

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. New York; First Second, 2006.

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel which won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in Young Adult literature. The graphic novels weaves together 3 separate tales – all of which come together in the end. The first story is that of the legendary Monkey King; the god of the monkeys who’s obsessed with getting the respect of the other gods. The second story is of Jin Wang, a young Chinese-American boy trying to fit in at school. The third story is of Danny, a seemingly average American teen who is haunted by his over-the-top Chinese stereotype cousin Chin-Kee.

Though I’ve read a lot of graphic novels, I had never gotten around to this one – so I had to choose it as my Printz book! I had expected big things from it, but I was still pleasantly surprised at just how good the story was. I should have seen it coming, but the way the three stories came together still took my by surprise. Yang’s illustrations are great; with a solid, clear & whimsical look to them. Their childish, amusing design helped kept the reader rooted in Jin’s young perception of things – implying that he still saw the world in much the same way as a teen as when he had been in 3^rd grade. They also help ease the transition of the Monkey King into the ‘real world;’ the already cartoony nature of the frames let him fit right in without seeming out of place. I’m not quite sure that I ‘get’ the integration of the Birth of Christ with the Monkey King’s story, though. Perhaps it’s intended as a parallel of Jin’s journey & integration into Western Culture? I don’t know, but I still loved the book.

Ned Vizzini wrote a thoughtful & interesting review of American Born Chinese for the New York Times last October.[1] He point out that “Asians are widely perceived to have it easier than other minorities in the United States,” but that Yang does an admirable job of breaking down those perceptions with his honest depiction of Jin Wang’s childhood. Vizzini points out the many references to negative Asian stereotypes in American pop culture, such as Chin-Kee’s William Hung impression while singing “She Bangs.” On the other hand, a Library Journal review concludes a brief description of the work with, “some potty humor; recommended for teen and adult collections.”[2]

American Born Chinese is obviously a must-have for any public or school library. It should have a place of honor in any graphic novel collection, display, or program. In addition, it serves as powerful material in any discussion of stereotypes & race issues, or on contemporary Asian-American culture. It would also make a great addition to a Chinese New Year (today!) book display for teens or adults.

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[1] Vizzini, Ned. “American Born Chinese.” New York Times Full Text Review. 27 October 2009. as found in Bowker’s Books in Print through the University of North Texas’ electronic Library. http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2612/merge_shared/details/RecordDetails.asp?item_uid=72028277&viewItemIndex=0&navPage=1&FullText=&BipAlertQueryString=&BipAlertDisplayQText= (accessed 14 February 2010).

[2] “American Born Chinese.” Library Journal. 15 March, 2007. as found in Bowker’s Books in Print through the University of North Texas’ electronic Library. http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2612/merge_shared/details/RecordDetails.asp?item_uid=72028277&viewItemIndex=0&navPage=1&FullText=&BipAlertQueryString=&BipAlertDisplayQText= (accessed 14 February 2010).