Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins is an American freelance writer. She is mostly famous for her verse novels, or narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry. All of which are about everything crapsack in the teenage world. All of her books are serious Doorstoppers. Debuted with Crank, a novel based on her daughter's experience with crystal meth.


 * Crank (2004)
 * Burned (2006)
 * Glass (2007)
 * Impulse (2007)
 * Identical (2008)
 * Tricks (2009)
 * Fallout (2010)
 * Perfect (2011)
 * Triangles (2011)
 * Tilt (scheduled for release in 2012)


 * Abusive Parents: In pretty much every book.
 * Department of Child Disservices: Summer of Fallout goes through several foster homes after her grandparents die and was sexually abused in one of them.
 * Deus Angst Machina: Impulse, Glass, and Tricks.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: The Downer Ending of Burned has no direct connection to the story's issues (religion-based parental abuse and teenage sex) and comes out of almost nowhere.
 * Downer Ending: Burned, Glass, and partially true with Impulse and Tricks.
 * Drugs Are Bad: Subverted in Crank and Glass, but comes close to crossing the line a few times.
 * Freudian Excuse: All protagonists in all of her stories have one. Always. However, subverted into just being depressing backstories in most cases.
 * Missing Mom: Kristina of Crank and Glass is this to the three narrators of Fallout.
 * Parental Incest: Identical.
 * Prison Rape: Is implied to have happened to  from Impulse on several occasions in juvie.
 * Rape and Switch: Tony in Impulse.
 * Rape as Backstory: Ginger in Tricks, in a particularly twisted way:
 * Rape as Drama: In Crank, Impulse, Identical, Tricks, and Perfect.
 * Someone to Remember Him By: Subverted in
 * Teen Pregnancy: Kristina in Crank,  in Burned,   in Tricks,   in Triangles and Tilt. Implied with   in Fallout but never outright confirmed.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: at least one a book.
 * Waking Up Elsewhere: Burned, Impulse, Identical and Tricks.