When was tricks by ellen hopkins published

I literally became nauseated. It's the same feeling I got after reading Living Dead Girl. Yes, these are characters, but the fact that you KNOW First of all, let me say I'm about pages from finishing and I just simply can't. Yes, these are characters, but the fact that you KNOW it really happens to children disturbs you on so many levels that it is unbearable.

It's also something that you feel very helpless about. I'm not naive enough to believe that things like this aren't happening every day. I know they do. I work with kids that molestation and rape have been a part of their lives. Therefore, I'm very sensitive it it. I do not feel, however, that they need to be described in such detail. And the excessive detail concerns me for some teens. Eden's story for me did not seem believeable at all. A virgin so in love with Andrew, her love, that she's willing to prostitute herself out of the facility her overzealot religious parents sent her too?

It just didn't bode well with me. And the studly Cody working as a male escort? I absolutely loved this book and I have an absolute love for all of her books!

This book is by far the best of her works that I have read. I can't wait until this fall when the sequel comes out. All the characters and plot were amazing.

I just don't know what to say because she always makes me speechless. Nov 18, Tami rated it did not like it. In typical Hopkins fashion, she spends the entire book creating salacious details and very little time with the consequences of her characters actions. Skip it and hid it from young readers! Jun 28, Maven rated it did not like it. Tricks, a novel by Ellen Hopkins, introduces five teenagers and their initial struggles with love. Eden, the daughter of religious zealots, is torn between their strict teachings and her desire for Andrew, her caring boyfriend.

Whitney tries to find the love her mother has always denied her by turning to a boy named Lucas. Ginger tries t Tricks, a novel by Ellen Hopkins, introduces five teenagers and their initial struggles with love. Ginger tries to take care of her younger siblings with her grandmother while avoiding her irresponsible mother and her abusive boyfriends.

Cory tries to help pay the family bills with his gambling addiction while his step-father grows increasingly sick. Most are rejected by those they trusted, all are taken advantage of, and eventually the five find themselves in desperate situations. The only way out seems to be turning tricks… or is it?

Teenagers should be allowed, even encouraged, to discuss and read about difficult subjects. There is no point in trying to protect them from the darker sides of life. Teen prostitution is certainly one of those subjects. However, although Hopkins should be applauded for taking on such a hard subject, this book should not be. This book was extremely explicit, giving detailed accounts of oral sex, rape, threesomes, and more. Important choices and reasons for them are omitted; instead, the reader is forced past any possibility of character development or plot points and left only with the horror scenes.

Having said that, Hopkins does do a good job in not blaming any of the teenagers for their situations; rather, they were all deceived and taken advantage of by people they trusted. The endings to each story are equally quick and filled with more questions than resolutions. The opening poems to each section in particular are dreary, mainly because she is trying to fit them all into a particular style. The structure seems to be more important than the words, emotion, or meaning. Ellen Hopkins is a very popular author in the young adult world and should certainly be represented in a high school library.

However, before adding this particular book to the collection, first read it to make sure you are comfortable defending it if needed. Aug 26, Jenny rated it it was ok Shelves: read-in Tricks tells the stories of 5 teens who find themselves, due to various situations, leading dangerous lives in prostitution and "turning tricks". Eden is from an ultra-conservative and religious family who disapprove of her dating; Seth works with his father on a farm in a rural area and struggles with his homosexuality; Whitney can't seem to live up to her sister or earn her mother's love; Ginger's own mother is addicted to drugs and engages in prostituting herself; and Cody finds himself in fi Tricks tells the stories of 5 teens who find themselves, due to various situations, leading dangerous lives in prostitution and "turning tricks".

Eden is from an ultra-conservative and religious family who disapprove of her dating; Seth works with his father on a farm in a rural area and struggles with his homosexuality; Whitney can't seem to live up to her sister or earn her mother's love; Ginger's own mother is addicted to drugs and engages in prostituting herself; and Cody finds himself in financial straits after becoming addicted to gambling. The book describes how their situations lead them to prostitution and then further illustrates typical scenarios they deal with.

I realize Ellen Hopkins takes on issues that many people shy away from or are scared to confront. Teenage prostitution is definitely one of them. However, I felt that this book did almost nothing but describe sex scene after lewd sex scene. I couldn't help but feel "dirty" after I read this, and I don't consider myself a prude. I mean, at my job I interview children about sexual abuse on a daily basis and the descriptions in this book still bothered me. I felt the book was overly focused on the sexual scenes and less on the actual stories.

It would have been just over pages per character which isn't bad when written in free verse. Instead, the book focuses on one character and then abruptly stops and changes to the next character all throughout the book.

The characters mentioned one or two of the other almost in passing. The stories really had nothing to do with each other except that they were each about teen prostitution. The start and stop of each character's story made it more difficult to get to know each character and it made their individual stories too choppy. So would I still recommend Ellen Hopkins's books to readers?

She grapples very difficult topics that need to be brought to life and her verse writing is so alluring. However, I would NOT recommend this as one of the first books to read by her. I do feel that this book could have been done much better and would have had a much better impact, at least for me. Did a reread of this book this year, and my thoughts are pretty much the same from the first time that I read this back in Another profound read from Ellen Hopkins.

Whether she is telling a true to life story or a fiction each of them always touch me in a very emotional way. She writes with such realism that you have no choice but to feel what our characters are feeling, and to experience what they are going through. So much emotion comes to the forefront when I read one of her books. In thi Did a reread of this book this year, and my thoughts are pretty much the same from the first time that I read this back in They have experienced horrendous people, acts, and situations in their lives that I could never even imagine being witness to.

They each have to struggle through situations and figure out how to climb back out of the abyss where their lives had pushed them. So many bad elements surround each of them pushing them to limits unknown. The characters are all so very real in this story that it is hard to choose any favorites.

All of them had very bad outside forces which led them to the positions they found themselves in. I would love a book just on those people and make them pay for the harm that they exposed these kids too. Or make them live the same type of lives. The story itself is so profound yet so heartbreaking because we know these things are happening in our world today. And maybe if there were better parents, and less judgement of others we could live in a different kind of world, but then again that would be a perfect world and that could never happen anyway.

If you have never read a Hopkins book, pick one up, you wont be sorry. Please be warned though, this book has many triggers that could affect some people, so read at your own risk. View 2 comments. Mar 18, BookCupid rated it really liked it Shelves: young-adult. Five teens share the traumatic events that lead them to prostituting their bodies.

In the course of the story, most of them will lose their virginity in traumatic ways, get disowned by their parents or simply fall into the vicious circle of drugs.

But once you spiral down into the world of prostitution, can you just as easily get out? I'd never do that is something you stop saying as you grow up. It's i Five teens share the traumatic events that lead them to prostituting their bodies. It's impossible to predict how you'd handle mockery. Hopkins writing style verses is a lot more effective than Crank, perhaps due to the shared spotlight between the five teens. Scenes were cut short, all containing raw details of tricks the characters were forced to perform just so they could survive in the streets.

Not for the fainthearted. May 18, Lacey Oliver rated it it was amazing. Something that I have learned to appreciate in her books is her poetry. Ellen Hopkins really speaks through her poetry. Ellen Hopkins doesn't sugar-coat in this book at all. She hits prostitution head-on. There are five main characters in this book - five teenagers from different parts of the country, all going through different things.

This book is fiction. The intended audience is mainly for mature teens or adults. The purpose of this work is just to make it clear that life is sometimes crazy. It is about rape, fake love, and sex trafficking. We live in a very cruel world and the decisions you make can affect you for the rest of your life. Throughout the story, all of these teens go through very traumatic things.

Most of them will get into drugs, or get disowned by their own parents. Their virginity was lost in very traumatic ways and they will have to live with that. This book has many terrifying topics in it that some people may not be able to handle.

I think that the point that Ellen Hopkins is trying to make is that your decisions, can spiral down a road that will ruin your life. The question is, can you get out of it? The teens must make decisions in order to find peace, love, and happiness. This story starts off bad and gets worse. Even though all of the craziness and bad decisions that were made by these teens, you find yourself feeling bad for them and rooting for them no matter what.

This book is written in five different points of views, and although each one is short, you are able to connect with them almost instantly. That was the only problem that I had with this entire book, Other than the way it was switched from person to person, it was overall an amazing book.

It is arranged in sections. I think that it would be super confusing if it were arranged in chapters, considering it jumps to five different stories every few pages. The story started with telling me about one teen's life and then it continues on to other stories. I think that this would be a good chapter book if these teens knew each other, but they all live in different parts of the country. Not only do they live in different states, but all of their stories are different. They all struggle with different things, but none of them have easy lives.

Concluding this book, I would say the theme of this book certainly stands out. The author of my book is always writing stories about what could happen in real life. Although, there could be a happy ending in real life, rarely does she write about them.

The theme of all of her book is just about real-life events. Whether it be sex trafficking or drug addictions, she does it all. Another theme in this book would be relationships - toxic and nontoxic ones, healthy and unhealthy ones. The themes are very effective because it shows you that in the real-world, some people are just sick. Some people are supposed to love you but could be the ones to use you at the end of the day.

Feb 08, Megan rated it it was ok Shelves: poetry , read When you sell your body, you also sell what's inside. Tricks has a ton of glowing reviews, so I was expecting to enjoy this one when I picked this up.

To add to that, I just recently finished Impulse and really liked it. However, this one fell flat for me. I tried so hard to like it, but I rarely felt sympathy for the characters and the plots all kind of ran together to the point where I forgot who was who. This book has five points of view.

Usua When you sell your body, you also sell what's inside. Usually, I wouldn't mind that. After all, one of my favorite series, Unwind , has more than five POVs. It's all about how the author handles that many characters voices.

In Unwind , I could distinctly tell who was narrating. In Tricks , all of the stories kind of blend together, and I had to constantly flip back to see who was currently speaking. Besides that, I never really liked any of the characters. Of course I felt bad for all of them. Either they had a mother who sold them into prostitution, or a boy kicked out by his father for his sexuality, or a religious mother who sends her daughter to a rehabilitation facility.

This book has too many terrifying topics in it packed into it. Whereas Impulse mainly focused around suicidal teens, this one had no main focus. It was everywhere and it became overwhelming for even myself.

It was hard to like some of the characters. I mean, the girls do absolutely idiotic things that make us seem like we don't have a brain. They're kind of rude too. Someone should tell Paige that "skinny jeans" are most def not her best friend. Some of the poems in this left me utterly confused. They didn't flow with the story or provide any significant value in my opinion.

They just seemed thrown in there to make this already page book longer. The poems at the beginning of each POV didn't sound like something a teenager could write. The ones in between, yes, because they're just sentences shaped like prose. I mean, sometimes they had a cool rhyme scheme or something interesting about them, but for the most part I do appreciate how Ellen Hopkins is trying to educate her usually teenage readers about how bad influences can lead you down a dark road with no escape.

Whether it's substance abuse, teenage prostitution, etc, she really knows how to scare the reader into never venturing into those horrific worlds. However, all of her stories run together.

I've read pretty much all of her books except for a few, and if you asked me a couple years from now what happened in each book, I don't know if I'd be able to correctly answer. I'm sad to say this might be my least favorite Hopkins book to date. There was just too much going on, and I never felt like picking this up.

I might read the second one sometime in the distant future, but it's definitely not at the top of my priority list. Jul 21, Mariah Roze rated it really liked it Shelves: diversity-in-all-forms-book-club. I read this book for the Goodreads' book club: Diversity in All Forms! What they don't expect, though, is all I read this book for the Goodreads' book club: Diversity in All Forms! Jul 15, Kate rated it really liked it.

It is written from the perspectives of five teenagers across the US, who, for various reasons, find themselves entering the world of prostitution and the downward spiral that brought them there. All I've heard of Ellen Hopkins is glowing praise, but I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy reading a book written in verse, but her subject matters won me over.

I am so glad I finally read this. The sequel is already on my Amazon wishlist, and I'm on the lookout for more of her works. Turns out that part of what makes her books so emotional and heartfelt "When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival. Turns out that part of what makes her books so emotional and heartfelt is the fact that they're written in verse. The use of verse allows Hopkins to make scenes as detailed or vague as she chooses, without the problem of her prose seeming inconsistent.

I was also a bit nervous about there being five different POVs that all started out in very different locations. The characters start out in Kentucky, California, Idaho, Indiana, and of course, Nevada, where they all cross paths in the end. The variation of lives the characters lead before all falling into the same dark circles is frightening.

It showed that while your current situation has factors, anyone, regardless of risk, can fall into the dark underbelly of society. While I was gripped by some of the characters quicker than others, by the end of the novel, I loved them all as if they were my own children.

They each came from different situations, and while some would be looked at as better off due to family situation or financial status, every one of them faced their own issues. I especially enjoyed the look at Eden's situation, since I've seen it so many times growing it up. I thought the look at the life of a well thought of pastor's kid or PK as I used to call them was perfectly ironic and true.

Sadly, at least in my personal experience the most religious people tend to make the most mistakes. And that was definitely the case in Eden's parents' case. Even though it's cliche, I'm glad she got a happier ending. Since I'm currently stuck living in the "Bible belt," I can say, like Eden, I've seen a bunch of kids going through the problems Seth faces. It's horrible, and makes me want to cover their whole home in rainbow duct tape, but happens all the time.

Their endings were not happy enough for my HEA loving self. Someone a little too desperate for love, get's sucked into something they would never have agreed to otherwise. Spot on, and heart breaking. Especially with her opposition to drugs in the beginning, and her nearly deadly OD at the end.

I've read countless novels on her situation. Like Whitney's, no matter how many times I read stuff like this, I count my blessings and cry like a baby. I also loved how she stayed true to her convictions to not be her mother, no matter what. Since almost everything that happens to Cody happens more towards the center of the novel, I'm going to mark everything I saw about him as a spoiler. Just to be safe. I always thought of obsessive gamblers as middle aged men with woman and balding issues.

To see a teenage gambler prompted by the death of his stepfather, and his family's declining finances, was eye opening. Cody started out as my second to least favorite character, and ended up being one of the best. His decline into prostitution was sob inducing, and everything about his story made me mad that a book could emotionally ruin me like this. His ending was also not okay. May 20, Jamika Monroe rated it it was amazing. How these five teenagers face the aftermath of their decisions and experiences is the soul of this story that exposes the dark, ferocious underbelly of the child trafficking trade.

Heartwrenching and hopeful, Traffick takes us on five separate but intertwined journeys through the painful challenges of recovery, rehabilitation, and renewal to forgiveness and love. All the way home. Ellen Hopkins is the 1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous young adult novels, as well as the adult novels such as Triangles, Collateral , and Love Lies Beneath. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada, where she has founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit youth housing and resource initiative.

Follow her on Twitter at EllenHopkinsLit. Recommended widely for older YA readers. Tell us what you like and we'll recommend books you'll love. Sign up and get a free ebook! Boxed Set Trade Paperback. Table of Contents Rave and Reviews. All in all, the book is a good read because it is a topic that is close to the heart of many young adults and parents alike. It helps them learn how the substance work and helps them adjust to the devastating emotions involved in the struggle and most of all it helps them realize that kicking the habit cannot be forced on the addict—but the addict should want it as well.

With the many questions that readers have addressed after reading the book, especially the recurrent question of what happened to Kristina, Ellen created the sequel Glass. The links beside each book title will take you to Amazon where you can read more about the book, or purchase it. As an Amazon Associate, I earn money from qualifying purchases. If you would like to link to us, Get the Code Here. I often get asked by readers if they can donate to the site as a thank you for all the hard work.

Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Let me know! Book s. Cosby came to popularity in with his novel Blacktop Wasteland and followed it up with the excellent Razorblade Tears. A phenomenal book and one that I would recommend the audiobook version of just for the full experience. An amazing author, and our author of the month! More Details. I just want to thank everyone for visiting the site.

To read more about the site or if you want a graphic to link to us, see the about page for more details. Homepage Characters Authors. Ellen Hopkins Books In Order. Crank Amazon. Burned Amazon. Impulse Amazon. Tricks Amazon. Love Lies Beneath Amazon.

Identical Amazon. Tarnished Legacy Amazon.