Glass
Glass
Ellen Hopkins
When my high school bookgroup wanted to read Crank last year, I was a little surprised, but figured why not...I knew this group to be pretty mature readers. As it turned out, they loved the book. The fictionalized story of the author's experiences with a daughter who became addicted to meth, it pulled no punches. Blunt, raw, and filled with sex and drug use, it is a chilling and frank story that comes off as a hundred times more authentic than Go Ask Alice. Glass is just has hard core, and in some ways more depressing, as it clearly illustrated how hard it is to truly beat addiction...particularly to meth. In this sad sequel, Kristina is bored as a now clean young mother living at home and studying for her GED. She feels ugly and unattractive with her post-pregnancy weight gain, and decides that may just a little meth will help her slim down again, but that it couldn't possibly interfere with her life as she knows how to keep it under control now. Right. This is, of course, not the case, and things get worst and worst.
What I like about these books is that I really feel they have the potential to satisfy kids curiosity about this killer drug, and teach them why they don't want to get near it with a ten foot pole. Never preachy, they show all the reasons why someone would be tempted to try...weight loss, greater energy, sexual enhancement, etc...but also makes it very clear that these things are never without a cost. Some adults may be concerned by the graphic drug use and strong sexuality in these books...but I think all teens should have access to them. I really do think these books could save lives.