Module 9/Poetry and Short Stories/July 28-August 3

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Hopkins, E. (2007).  Glass.   New York:  Simon and Schuster.

Summary

Glass continues to follow the story of Kristina/Bree as she is now a single mom after being raped by Brendan in Crank.  Kristina has tried to clean up and even did for a while throughout her pregnancy and while she was breastfeeding, but she cannot beat the monster.  She doesn't know a lot of people in town so she seeks out Robyn, the cheerleader she used to do crank with.  She tricks her mom into letting her use the car and getting away for a night (with her mom's money) and goes to Robyn's college campus.  She almost immediately meets Robyn's dealer Trey and falls in love with him.  He offers crank that is more pure than anything she has ever tried.  Trey and Kristina make a connection and she returns home.  Soon, Trey is visiting Reno and calls Kristina up.  At this point she has gotten a job at a gas station and is trying to start a new life.  Kristina and Trey do meth together and she is introduced to Trey's cousin Brad who has the connections in Mexico for the pure drugs.  Kristina is soon living at Brad's because her mom kicked her out due to her neglecting Hunter during one of her binges (he was stuck under a chair and screaming and Kristina didn't even wake up).  Kristina soon realizes she has to quit her job because she doesn't want to work during Christmas (plus her boss is a pervert who asks her to do pornography for him on the side).  Brad offers to allow her to nanny his girls for a job.  That does not last long though because a strange love triangle comes about and both Trey and Kristina are kicked out.  They live in a motel together and are eventually caught with a lot of meth at a McDonald's and put into jail.  Throughout this, Kristina's mom has fought for custody of Hunter and Kristina also finds out she is pregnant with Trey's child.  

My Impression

To me, this book is sadder than Crank because so much more of it involves Hunter and Kristina's inability to take care of him because of her addiction.  It is also sad watching her yearn for the attention of men more so than the attention of her son.  At this point, she is completely torn away from her family and everything else just for a drug.  Again, I would not read this book for pleasure.  I only read it this one time and probably will not again.  I just find it so sad and disheartening but it is beautifully written and so honest.  

Reviews and Awards

"Hopkins's hard-hitting free-verse novel, a sequel, picks up where Crank left off. Kristina now lives in her mother's Reno home with her baby, but constantly dreams of “getting/ high. Strung. Getting/ out of this deep well/ of monotony I'm/ slowly drowning in.” When her former connection turns her on to “glass”: “Mexican meth, as/ good as it comes. maybe 90 percent pure,” Kristina quickly loses control again. She gets kicked out of her house after her baby gets hurt on her watch, starts dealing for the Mexican Mafia (“No problem. I'll play straight/ with them. Cash and carry”) and eventually even robs her mother's house with her equally addicted boyfriend. The author expertly relays both plot points and drug facts through verse, painting Kristina's self-narrated self-destruction through clean verses (“My face is hollow-/cheeked, spiced with sores”). She again experiments with form, sometimes writing two parallel poems that can be read together or separately (sometimes these experiments seem a bit cloying, as in “Santa Is Coming,” a concrete poem in the shape of a Christmas tree). But in the end, readers will be amazed at how quickly they work their way through this thick book—and by how much they learn about crystal meth and the toll it takes, both on addicts and their families. Ages 14-up. (Aug.)" 

(2007, Aug. 13).  [Review of the book Glass].  Publisher's Weekly.  Retrieved from 

       http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4169-4090-6.

2008 ALA Top Ten for Young Adults

Suggestions for Use

*Have teenagers go to a rehab facility and meet with a counselor about the effects of drugs 

*Create posterboards representing the effects of meth and statistics of addiction