Monday, March 9, 2015
Dillon Kramer Author Study on Ellen Hopkins
I chose to read works by Ellen Hopkins for multiple reasons. I began to read her first book Crank after she came to visit our school two years ago. She visited and I filmed her visit for TV Productions. I got the chance to interview her and ask some questions about the true story behind her book. At that time, I haven't read any of her books. After I filmed her visit I really wanted to read some of her works. I began to read her first book last year and loved it. It was one of my favorite reads in a while. After I finished Crank I went on to read other authors. I thought that Ellen didn't write a sequel to Crank but as we were looking for author study books I found the sequel and knew that I would love it. I am almost finished with the second book, Glass which is part of a trilogy. Once I am finished with it I am going to read the third and final book, Fallout.
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The character that caught my attention is the main character, Kristina. She started out in the beginning of the first book as a junior in high school. She was a straight-A student that had promising goals in life. Over the summer she visited her father. While with him she was introduced to "the monster" that drove her downhill, methamphetamine. She calls it "the monster" because she feels the urge to use it from inside her like a monster trying to release itself. She starts to use "the monster" heavily on a daily basis. She returned back to her home with her mom in Reno near the end of the summer. She changed completely. She went from a straight-A student to a high school dropout with not many morals anymore.
ReplyDeleteKristina created an alter ego that she calls Bree. Bree usually decides what Kristina does when she has the urge to use or while she is using. Bree changes Kristina completely. She goes from a sweet, quiet girl to a girl who says what she wants with no thought. She only associates herself with people who also use "the monster" because all of her friends moved on to better things. She is on a rollercoaster leading to her downfall and the only way to stop is to release the grip that "the monster" has on her. I can connect to the story but not Kristina as much considering she has no regards for anything besides "the monster." The story has elements of things that impact a lot of people in real life such as bad habits, drugs and poor decisions. Kristina is definitely a strange character because you never know what she'll do next on her ride with "the monster."
I finished the second book in the series titled "Glass". The story ended on a cliffhanger. It was getting exciting during the end. I began to read the third book in the series, "Fallout".
ReplyDeleteSadly, this book doesn't catch my attention as much as the other two. The cliffhanger that I was left on in the second book doesn't get explained at all so far in the third book. The third book is read through three of Kristina's Children around 16 years after the events of the second book. I wish that Ellen Hopkins would have just kept going with Kristina's story. I found Kristina more enjoyable to read compared to her children.
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ReplyDeleteEllen Hopkins has a different approach to her style of writing. She writes in a free verse poetry style. She writes in three characters' point of views in the story that I am reading now, Fallout. She writes in the point of view of two girls and one guy, all in which are in their teenage years. Her style is more reckless in vocabulary in this story to represent how teenagers going through tough times would write. She writes less dialogue and more of the character's thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHer style, in my opinion, fits perfectly with her stories. Her stories are raw and uncut explaining the tragic events that happen in the character's life. Her characters are not stable mentally. They went through tough times and she shows it in her writing. She expresses their feelings and thoughts with detail. Ellen Hopkins' books wouldn't be the same in my eyes if she didn't write in the style that she does now.
I plan to create a prezi for my author study visual. I chose to create a prezi because I am not very creative nor am I artistic so a poster or anything artistic is out the window. I find that I don't have trouble doing projects on the computer. It is not easier to do so to say, but easier for me because I think of myself as more technologically advanced than some others.
ReplyDeleteI plan to create the prezi using one book per slide. I read three books by Ellen Hopkins, "Crank", "Glass" and "Fallout". I will provide a short summary of each story and then add why the book relates to my working questions. I will have a page solely for Ellen's biography. It will include how she was raised and how she raised her children, particularly the child who she based her books off of. I feel that a prezi would be the best visual to create because I have everything planned out already.
The author Study assignment definitely made me open up to different styles of writing. Before, I would only read one book per author unless I read a good series like "The Hunger Games". So I wouldn't really get to know how an author writes. I began reading books by Ellen Hopkins and really enjoyed them. The Author Study assignment helped me communicate about reading. I recommended the author to Anthony to read. He read her stories and enjoyed them as well.
ReplyDeleteI got to know a lot about Ellen and her life. Most of her stories were based off of events that she went through so in a way I got to read stories about her life. During my research of Ellen I got to find out even more about her. I already knew most of the backstory of her life but while researching her I got to learn more on her early life and how it impacted her writing style. The Author Study assignment as a whole is a good way to learn a lot about a certain author.