Do you ever feel like you have everything under control when in reality you don't? This is Kristina Georgia Snow's reminder of meth as her journey is followed through the Crank series. Crank is about an innocent 17-year-old girl named Kristina, who is about to graduate high school when she has to spend a summer month with her ex-father. While visiting his father, he falls in love and tries methamphetamine for the first time. The book follows his experience of addiction to the "monster" and the resulting consequences, such as hurting his friends and loved ones. The book ends with the teenager becoming pregnant as a result of rape. Glass, the second book in the series, begins with Kristina, also known by her "alter ego" Bree, having the baby. She names her baby Hunter Seth. Kristina being clean during her pregnancy, quickly relapses and her life slowly begins to crumble around her. Ellen Hopkins' experience dealing with her daughter's methamphetamine addiction influenced the theme of an out-of-control life shown through character, style, and imagery in Glass. On March 26, 1955 Ellen Hopkins was born in Long Beach, California. She was adopted by an elderly couple, her father Albert was 72 years old and her mother Valerie was 42 at the time. Always eager to meet her biological parents, Ellen found her birth mother Toni Chandler in 2000. She herself had written poems for a lifetime. She also discovered she has a half-sister named Fran and a birth father she has yet to meet. Ellen had a cheerful childhood growing up in a neighborhood full of famous people like Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas and Arnold Palmer. She won nearly every creative writing contest she entered at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School that... middle of paper... you feel like you're in Kristina's shoes as she tells her story. The minimalist verses perfectly demonstrate Kristina's dissociation and confused desperation. (Kirkus Reviews). The author really emphasizes meth as if it were her character, giving her feelings and power. The emphasis on meth makes you believe that it is the addictive "monster" that causes Kristina's life to spiral out of control and not her. In Glass, Ellen Hopkins tackles the theme of someone's life spiraling out of control through style, character and imagery. Most critics consider the novel (and the entire Crank series) to be the best books written by Ellen. He is able to put his real life experience on paper as if you were the one writing it. The book contains easy-to-read poems and would be recommended for anyone aged 14 or older. All of his books are fun and easy to read, but educational at the same time.