Tricks

The book I read was Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. She is a great author who has written many different books. I really like the style that she wrote most of her books such as Crank, Burned, Glass, Perfect, Identical, Impulse, Fallout, Tilt, and her newest book Smoke that just came out this year (2013). In Tricks, there are stories of five different troubled teenagers. They have problems finding their true inner-self and when problems start happening at home and in their relationships, these teens turn to prostitution to try to stay on their feet.

The five teens featured in this novel all have different problems but at the same time they all have the same problems to deal with; whether it is death from someone in the family, drug addiction, domestic abuse, relationship problems, and even prostitution. Eden Streit is the first character brought into the book. She is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a conservative and religious family since her father is this small town’s preacher. Seth Parnel is the second to be introduced. He is a seventeen-year-old boy who has a problem throughout the novel trying to define his sexuality and goes through some horrible breakups, having to trade his body for a home. Whitney Lang is next. She is a fifteen-year- old girl living in the shadows of her older sister who her mother favors. She has to deal with a very hard drug addiction and searches but can’t seem to find any sort of affection. Ginger Cordell the fourth character is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a cramped house with her five siblings, mother, and grandmother who raises the whole family. Ginger has had to deal on a day to day basis with her mother being a prostitute to support the family but finally when one of her “clients” takes it too far, Ginger walks out. Last but not least, is Cody Bennet, and eighteen-year-old boy who has to help his mother and brother cope after a loss of the family. He faces a gambling problem and a drug addiction that may ruin his life forever.

I really did love reading this book. It is one of those that keep you hanging, you start to read and can’t put it down but finally when it is really time to it is so hard. Tricks, is definitely a book that will keep you on your feet, tear at your heartstrings, and tell you the dangers of our world. The stories that are told in this book are all 100% true and I think that because theses teens share their experiences, if others were to read it, they wouldn’t necessarily try to do all of the things that peer-pressure cause because, here is the ugly truth of what really happens. I do recommend that you read this book or any of the other ones that have been written by Ellen Hopkins. She is a great author but really, she wouldn’t have made it to where she is now if she didn’t have the help from all of her readers, and the kids that let her write about them.

Book Review by Samantha W.