13 Little Blue Envelopes
young adult
Series · young_adult
Crank
The Crank series by Ellen Hopkins has 3 known books (3 published) and 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
- Last checked
Start here: Crank (2004) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Crank
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.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Crank - Book 2:
Glass
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.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Glass - Book 3:
Fallout
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.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Fallout
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.
If you like the Crank series
Reading order last verified .