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Series · young_adult

Crank

by Ellen Hopkins

The Crank series by Ellen Hopkins has 3 known books (3 published). It is best read in publication order, starting with Crank (2004).

Books
3 known books (3 novels)
Published
3
First published
2004
Status
completed
Shelved under
Young Adult
Start here: Crank (2004) — then read straight through in publication order.
Book one
Cover of Crank
Crank (2004)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Crank

    Novel
    Crank opens Ellen Hopkins's trilogy in 2004 at 537 pages, a free-verse novel fictionalizing her own daughter's addiction as good student Kristina Snow meets crystal meth and a wilder alter ego, Bree, takes over her life.
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  2. Glass

    Novel
    Glass followed in 2007 as the trilogy's longest volume at 704 pages, picking up with Kristina now a teenage mother still unable to control her addiction.
    View book

  3. Fallout

    Novel
    Fallout closed the trilogy in 2010 at 672 pages, shifting perspective entirely to Kristina's three children as they reckon with the wreckage her addiction left behind.
    View book

Key facts about the Crank series

The Crank series has 3 books on our list. Since all 3 are out now, you can read the whole list today.

Start with Crank, since it opens the publication order in 2004. Glass is book 2, from 2007. Fallout is book 3, from 2010.

Each title links to its own page, while the list keeps them in date order. Each book page shows its dates and editions. Since the catalogue marks the series as complete, we list no next book.

The books came out between 2004 and 2010, while their length runs from 537 to 704 pages. That is a run of 6 years.

Ellen Hopkins has 21 books on our list. Additionally, they write Burned, Impulse and Tricks, plus 1 more series. We shelve the books under young_adult.

About the Crank series

Ellen Hopkins wrote Crank about her own daughter's addiction, fictionalizing Kristina Snow -- a good student who visits her largely absent father, meets "the monster" (crystal meth), and finds a wilder, riskier alter ego named Bree taking over her life. The trilogy follows the consequences across a decade: Glass picks up with Kristina now a teenage mother still unable to control her addiction, and Fallout shifts perspective entirely to her three children -- Hunter, Autumn, and Summer -- each shaped, in different and painful ways, by growing up in the wreckage their mother's addiction left behind.

Written entirely in free verse, the trilogy became Hopkins's breakout work and a defining example of the young-adult verse novel as a format for unflinching subject matter -- it doesn't soften addiction's toll on a family across generations, and its final book's generational shift is widely considered one of the more structurally ambitious moves in YA verse fiction.

Frequently asked questions

Is Crank based on a true story?

Yes, loosely -- Ellen Hopkins based Kristina Snow's addiction on her own daughter's real struggle with crystal meth, though the novels are fiction rather than memoir.

How many books are in the Crank trilogy?

Three: Crank (2004), Glass (2007), and Fallout (2010).

Are the Crank books written in verse?

Yes, all three are novels in free verse, Ellen Hopkins's signature form.

Who narrates Fallout?

Kristina's three children -- Hunter, Autumn, and Summer -- each dealing with the aftermath of their mother's addiction from their own adult vantage points.

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