Margaret K. McElderry – August 25, 2009
What would you do to survive? Can one decision change your life forever? TRICKS by Ellen Hopkins tackles these and many other issues. Five teens, all from different backgrounds, find themselves in places and situations they never could have foreseen.
Eden, a preacher’s daughter, finds true love. When her parents discover the innocent relationship they send her to a home for troubled teens.
Seth is dealing with the grief of losing his mother and a father that is becoming more distant as the days go by – seeing only what he wants to see. There is no way Seth can reveal he is gay to his father. His mother might have understood, but not his father.
Whitney has lived in the shadow of her successful older sister her entire life. Feeling ignored by the ones who should love her, Whitney finds affection and attention wherever she can.
Ginger’s mother is a prostitute and lives with her Grandmother and many siblings (all from different fathers). She has been betrayed multiple times by the woman who should be taking care of her – her mother.
Cody, the All-American kid, always keeps his drinking and fooling around under the radar so he never gets caught, but when his step-father gets seriously ill and his younger brother starts getting into major trouble, it falls to Cody to find a way to make ends meet and hold what’s left of his family together. In trying to be a good guy, he develops a dangerous habit.
Ellen Hopkins utilizes her trademark realistic voice, there isn’t any sugar-coating of the subject matter here, to weave the story of five total strangers together to form a heartbreaking look at what some people are forced to do simply to survive. Ellen Hopkins, once again, comes through for her readers with this spellbinding novel-in-verse.
There are only two complaints: 1) it felt like it took a little too long to get into the gritty part of the story, even though I realize the need to get to know each character prior to their fall into destruction and 2) the end feels like it comes too soon. I felt I should have been able to turn the last page and read more about the fall-out the characters had to go through. Read it and see what you think and let me know.
Sounds great…now I want it!
*swoon* ellen hopkins is the literary love of my life (one of many i’m afraid) i loved crank and glass and i’m sure i will love this
thanks for blogging a/b it
have you guys read Identical ? it’s completely awesome. !
OMG! i am a big Ellen Hopkins fan. I have read all of her book i just have to read “Tricks” and all her books are great and the endings are sad because i always want to read more. It does take awhile to get into the story but once you do its hard to stop reading.
omg i love the series to death!!!! wow if the ending would be longer nd more like crank nd glass tht would be amazing!!!!!
im sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo……………… excited to get that book. OMG soooooo excited
I think that ‘Tricks’ looks like a reasonably good book to read though iI would enjoy it if it had some supernatural themes to it.
I’m going out to buy Tricks today. Though I can’t give you a perfect opinion about it, I’m sure it will be fantastic. I find that Ellen Hopkins’ novels are very well-told and relateable. I can’t wait to see what this novel has in store for me. :] If it’s anything like Identical, I won’t be able to put it down.
Finished reading ‘tricks’ a couple of days back, and I just have to say it was amazing. The truth and sad reality behind the characters and the ultimately the book was actually a bit disturbing. Disturbing as you take a look at your life and question just how far you’d go in desperate times. I admit it started out a tad on the dull side to get to the storyline, but after all books should be somewhat as flawed as the characters written about. Overall, this was a fantastic read, but then again all of Ellen’s books are. [:
I just finished reading it today, and I can’t decide if I loved it or hated it. The ending kept me awake, wondering what happens, and knowing I probably won’t ever find out. But I thinks that’s what this book is ment to do, and since it has accomplished that, I’d say it was a very good read.
This book was amazing i couldnt put it down it came with me everywhere. i finsihed this book in a week. I was extreamly pissed off at the ending like what the hell happens with eden and andrew it ends on an i love you does he find out about jerome? Do her parents find her? every one elses story was sorta compleated but edens wasnt at all grr hopfully she will make a second tricks book that would be great
I loved this book,it was completely amazing I’ve read all of Ellen Hopkins books except Glass,this one by far in my opinion was the best even over crank. It made me sick to my stomach but I couldnt pull my eyes away from it I found myself saying out loud”THIS IS AN AMAZING BOOK” when it hit the middle. Hopkins is an incredible writer/poet. I love reading about hard messed up lives,it’s more real and more people can relate. Her books are as real as it gets.
I am a huge fan of Ellen /’hopkins. Her books always tell you real-life stories. Some people think that her books reveal too much about the subject matter that she writes about. I feel that Ellen Hopkins’ novels are a view of reality. These events truly happen and they open our eyes too. I think that parents should read them too so that maybe they could see what is really going on and what these books are all about.
-Wednesday M.
im super excited to read tricks. i just have to fine it somewherre
I read Tricks Saturday and am wondering if it’s for a small high school library. I’d love to hear the opinion of any high school librarian, especially one from a small, conservation town. Crank, Glass, Burned, and Impulse are all on the library’s shelf now.
ERRRR.
It makes me completely angered to only have one book store in town that has a limited variety. All summer long I have been in contact with the book store to get more Ellen Hopkins, though everytime I go, they only have Crank and Glass.
I’ve finally been able to read all the books except this one. Man, am I excited to get on that.
Best believe I am currently calling Coles to order it.
I completely agree about the ending.
However, I really enjoyed the book.
I just would like to know what the hell happened to everyone at the end.
Eden is my favorite story, agree?
I AGREE WITH YOU
EDEN WAS MY FAVORIE STORY TOO
I LOVED THE BOOK BUT HATED THE ENDING
I HATE NOT KNOWING WHAT HAPPENED TO EDEN AND THE REST THEM…HOPEFULLY THEIRS A SECOND BOOK
it’s a great book. the insight of the characters lives are so intricate, you feel as if the characters are your bestfriends sharing their deepest and darkest secrets and desires with you… another of hopkins’s masterpieces
i love this book…it gives people like me the insiders on real teen problems
While reading this book I just wanted to see how it ended. I was so anxious. I guess I might have been a little annoyed at times when they made some stupid decisions but I suppose that’s how it’s suppose to be. Not knowing what happened to Eden in the end really bugged me. But the ending for Whitney really touched my heart, I thought it was just beautiful.
Identical is still, byfar, my favorite book. With Burned in second place.
i LOVE ellen hopkins
burned is so amazing
i see you have Hunted by PC &Kristen Cast in your CSS background
i love the house of night series
theres going to be 9 books in the series
the next, Tempted, comes out this tuesday
I Read GLASS and it was asome! my library has Crank(Have To Read It), GLASS, IMPULSE(Its Ok), BURNED( Have To Read It!),IDENTICAL( Have To Read It!), And TRICKS(COMPLETLY Have To Read It!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i havent yet read this one, im going to though! ive read all of her other books and they were all completely amazing. impulse was great, crank and glass were amazing, identical was so well written and so surprising and burned pissed me off to no end, but i loved it! cant wait to get my hands on this one <3
I had never read any of Ellen Hopkin’s books but now I think I shall, and to all of those who hated the ending….I recomend either trying to make a sequel or… read into the books. I know I do it all the time ^-^
!! Most of you think it would be like cheating the author by I think of it as…… wait I don’t know what to think of it as! anywho it will probly be on my christmas
I JUST bought it on ebay. It got here overnight, and I am soooooo excited to read it. I am on ym way to the couch right now! YAY!!!! I love Ellen!!
Karin- I need a meaningful passage from this book! It is due on Wednesday and I can not find one that sticks out! It needs to be 1 Minute long! Can you help me?
Marcus
I’ve beeeen wanting to read this boook ! I’ve read Crank and Glass but now I’m reading Impulse . She is probably the best author I know . And an also great book is Go Ask Alice . Well I hope I’ll get this book soon ! Thanks . (:
This book is amazing.I’ve read it several times.Haha.But it really is probably her best book.
OMGAWD! right now, i just finished reading “Tricks” and i agree with Karin how it took a while to get to their promiscuous actions. Yet again, it was totally worth it. & when i turned the last page, i was disappointed :[ but ELLEN HOPKINS FOR LIFE <3!
This book is amazing i read it 3 times!
Okaayy honestly the best series i have EVER READ. I started with Crank which i finished in one day….well actually twoo..i started reading real late at night and all the way into the morning until it was done. same with Glass. Impulse was also amazinggg and Burned killed me….. i just finished Tricks this weekend and just about died when the ending came. the ending pretty much makes you have to think about what happens….I NEED A SEQUEL OR I’LL GO INSANE! STUPID CLIFFHANGERS! ]X Anywayyysss i still need to get Identical, which i am sure i will absolutely lovee just like all the others. there hasnt been one book of hers that i havnt cried while reading it. truly touchingg, i love her work. ?<3
p.s I HAVE TO THANK MY TEACHER FOR HAVING CRANK IN HER CLASSROOM LIBRARY OR ELSE I WULDA NEVER GOTTEN HOOKED!
ALSOOO,
i was the first one at my school to start reading these and am happy to say almost everyones reading her series now. how rad is that?
Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorite authors for this realistic type of writing along with Laurie Halse Anderson . I liked Tricks a lot , but I think it could have ended better . Does anyone know if there will be a sequel ? I really want there to be a sequel ! (:
I just read the whole book last night, I couldn’t put it down! I’m a HUGE fan of Ellen Hopkins because she writes about real life situtatuions. And this book it home pretty good.
I have all the books by her. the first book I bought was crank, read it so fast, I bought burned. then I got identical for my birthday and impulse for christmas. my friend started reading them now too! I cant wait to read tricks!
i got this book for christmas and i read it in 2 nights, a total of 5 hours reading. IT WAS AMAZING!! everyone should go buy it, its awesome. Ellen Hopkins is an amazing writer/poet. i cant wait for her next book
i hope its soon!
[...] Here is a review I came across, that I like a lot. It outlines the characters and names a couple of the complaints I had with the novel. [...]
I’m getting tired of Ellen Hopkins writing these books. This is pretty much how Impulse was, and I have to say, it’s the same concept but not a sequel. I really liked Crank and Glass, but Impulse was just okay. I doubt I’ll read this one.
cool
I always hated reading when I was younger, when I was about 18 years old, I picked up the book CRANK and it only took me a day to read. I absolutely loved it. I’ve read five of her books so far and I’m working on the sixth. Ellen Hopkins changed my mind about reading all together. =)
umm i love all her books. but i really didnt like the ending of tricks. but i so happy that she has 2 new books comeing out. on is fallout. and its goes with glass ans the other one. and perfect. hahah so happy i want to reald them. fallout is comeing out 9/14/10. and the other one is goin to be out in the 2011
I like the other books by Ellen Hopkins I’m sure I’ll like tricks.I hope she makes more books like glass and crank.
I was deffinitly disapointed with the ending of this book, but then again, Hopkins always has a tendancy to leave her readers at a dangling cliffahanger, begging for more…
I’m thinking…sequel?
Damn this book was deep i love it has anyone read the house of night series by p.c cast and kristen cast?
“burned” is by far the best from ellen hopkins. i read it in one day, i couldn’t put it down.
and impulse wasnt as great, but im in the process of reading tricks.
omg im loving tricks, im almost done with it. usually i finish Ellen’s books within a day but im sharing the same book with my sis. Ellen explains everything so well in an exotic way. i just cant get enough of her writing. Ive read crank, glass, and burn. BUT so far my favorite books by her are crank and glass. the way she explains everything just makes me wanna hear more. I cant wait till the fallout book comes out on sept 14 2010! im dying to read more about Christina/Bre!
too much about religion. 200 pages into it and its still boring. im throwing it away.
Identical= AMAZING but seems like you need to be on drugs to get the end. Tricks equals= an AMAZING bunch of sluts.
Tricks was a really good book. I was so anxious to find what will happen all of them-Cody especially. I just finished reading it and i’m actually surprised that no one dies like in Impulse. But i’m on way to reading her next book!