Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Book:  Tricks
Author:  Ellen Hopkins

This book can be found in the Contemporary section of the Saint library.

Initial Reaction

Wow, What an amazing book.  

About this book          

Trick is a book about 5 teens, 3 girls and 2 boys, who are lacking love. They question themselves about love and sex when they come across it. They meet people who made them feel special and thought they were in love. They run away with them to Las Vegas. The teens then do things they never thought or expected they would do. The people who they met weren't the people who they thought they were, and they try to find a way out of these lives.    

About the characters   

"The first character I feel strongly about would be Ginger Cordell. She was a girl who lived with her siblings, and her mom and grandma. She gets home from school noticing that no one is home but some strange guy. One guy after another, they rape her and say that they paid her mom already to do that to her.

The second one is Seth Parnel. He lives with his father because his mom died of cancer. He had a girlfriend but broke up with her because he realized he was gay. When his father finds out, he kicks him out. He leaves and stays with a guy he met at the bar. They move to LA.

The third one is Eden Streit. She lives with her parents and her sister. Her dad is a preacher. She has a boyfriend named Andrew. She tries to keep it as a secret from her parents but they find out and believe that she has been controlled by the devil and they send her to Tears of Zion. She meets a guy name Jerome and knows that he is her key to escape. She has to trade sex for food. Later on they escape, they get to a gas station and she then runs away. She gives sex for money." 

My opinion    

I would recommend this book to other students because it tells you the struggle some teens have in life. They met people who weren't the people who they think they were.

I think the author chose "Tricks" for this book because it is about teens that are learning about love and come across the wrong people who they thought they "loved". These people who they met made them feel the love and want but really they trick them for their bodies.

Reviewed by a student from Mrs. Daughtrey's class.