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Ellen Hopkins

Tricks Paperback – January 24, 2017

by Ellen Hopkins (Author)

653 ratings

Book 1 of 2: Tricks Series

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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Five troubled teenagers fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family, and love in this #1 New York Times bestselling novel from Ellen Hopkins.

When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival.

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching…for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don’t expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words “I love you” are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story—a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, “Can I ever feel okay about myself?”

A brilliant achievement from New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins—who has been called “the bestselling living poet in the country” by Mediabistro.com—Tricks is a book that turns you on and repels you at the same time. Just like so much of life.

Print length

656 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date

January 24, 2017
Grade level

9 - 12
Reading age

14 years and up
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.4 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

148149824X
ISBN-13

978-1481498241
Lexile measure

HL590L
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Each story is unique...while readers may connect with some characters more than others, they will long remember each painful story.” ― Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Ellen Hopkins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous young adult novels, as well as the adult novels such as Triangles, Collateral, and Love Lies Beneath. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada, where she has founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit youth housing and resource initiative. Follow her on Twitter at @EllenHopkinsLit.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Margaret K. McElderry Books; Reissue edition (January 24, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 656 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 148149824X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1481498241
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL590L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.4 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #592,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,345 in Teen & Young Adult Coming of Age Fiction
- #2,915 in Teen & Young Adult Family Fiction

Customer Reviews:
653 ratings

About the author

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Ellen Hopkins

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I was adopted at birth and raised by a great, loving older couple. I grew up in Palm Springs CA, although we summered in Napa and Lake Tahoe, to avoid those 120 degree summers. After my adopted parents died, I did find my birth mother, who lives in Michigan with my half sister.

I studied journalism in college, but left school to marry, raise kids and start my own business--a video store, before the mega-chains were out there. After a divorce, I met my current husband and we moved to Tahoe to become ski bums and otherwise try to find our dreams. At that time, I went to work for a small alternative press, writing stories and eventually editing.

When we moved down the mountain to the Reno area, I started writing nonfiction books, many of which you can see here. The rest are viewable on my personal website. I also continued to freelance articles for newspapers and magazines.

All that has changed, with the publication of my novel, CRANK, which has led to a valued career writing YA novels in verse, all of which explore the more difficult situations young adults often find themselves in. Will I ever write one in prose? No doubt! But, for the moment, writing novels in verse fulfills two needs: writing poetry and writing fiction. The combination is so interesting!

Customer reviews

5 star		83%
4 star		10%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Heartbreaking and Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2018

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You can read this book for FREE online at Riveted until 9/9/18! 😊

That’s what I did! Naturally I loved it so much that I bought the ebook as soon as I finished reading (as well as the sequel!) and quickly re-highlighted all of my favourite first read passages before agonising about what I could write about this book without wandering into spoiler territory.

Trigger warnings include sexual assault, gambling, abandonment, alcohol and drug use, murder, homophobia, seriously dodgy parenting, religion used as a weapon and probably a whole range of heartache I’ve already repressed.

‘Can you tell me
how you ended up in “the business”?

More mostly truth. “I never wanted to.
I just didn’t know any other way to survive.”’

Ellen Hopkins. Whenever I begin one of her novels I know I’m setting my heart up to be broken. It always feels as though my heart is being folded into some distorted origami design each time one of her characters is hurt or betrayed. Then the inevitable happens; one fold too many breaks me.

‘When you sell your body, you
also sell what’s inside. Piece
by piece, you sell your soul.’

Why do I put myself through this? Because it’s worth it! I don’t think there’s an Ellen book I’ve read where I haven’t come away changed by the experience. They’re just so real and I love that about them.

Ellen opens my eyes in a way that I don’t think any other author ever has, and she does it over and over again. She takes issues I know about from personal experience, validates my feelings, shows me other perspectives and introduces me to characters who are willing to discuss what people I know don’t/won’t. She also takes issues I only know anything about from reading news stories, blogs or textbooks and gives me insights and understanding I may never have gained any other way.

‘When all choice is taken from
you, life becomes a game of survival.’

Ellen breaks my heart but she also enlarges it. I come away with empathy I didn’t know I still had. I come away with the confidence that regardless of how dire your situation may look and feel there is hope.

‘What is wrong with
me? Why aren’t I worth loving?’

Ellen opens my mind, allowing me access to people I don’t know in my life outside books. She takes topics that people discuss in terms of statistics and humanises them. Her characters stay with me when I finish reading and in the case of this book I wanted to adopt all of the kids I encountered.

I found myself with a preconceived stereotypical notion that all of the characters would eventually meet one another on the streets in Vegas. I was wrong. As I began to read about the five main characters I couldn’t help wondering how their lives were going to intersect. I became attached to the five as well as others like Ginger’s Gram and younger sister Mary Ann, and Andrew, who made me want to believe in true love.

Although I read the blurb prior to reading that told me otherwise I still assumed that most of the kids who feature in this book would come from extremely abusive families; probably because everyone I know personally who has been homeless has been for that reason. Again I was wrong.

‘You might be surprised at
what you can do, should
circumstances dictate.’

I loved the book’s title even more after reading it. Tricks. I originally associated it solely with prostitution yet while I was reading I also began to associate it with the deception employed by the adults in the book.

I need to know what happens to these kids so I’m diving straight into the sequel.

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2011

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Just like her other books, Tricks has real meaning to it. It's the kind that makes you reflect on your life and see how much you take for granted. It makes you hate yourself for the times that you yelled at your parents for not letting you go to a party, or not buying you clothes that "you'd die without". I really respect her and thank her for exposing these true and important topics.

Tricks takes turns switching from five different perspectives: Eden Streit, Seth Parnell, Whitney Lang, Ginger Cordell, and Cody Bennett. I fell in love with every single one of these characters. They all had a different, heartbreaking story to tell and reduced me to nothing less than a pile of tears. Ellen Hopkins didn't sugar-coat anything in this book and threw in disturbing, yet necessary scenes that portrayed the seriousness of this topic. The book showed how you can jump from one path to another in the blink of an eye and end up living a life you never though could happen to you. You'll read Tricks and think, that will never happen to me, but no one can be 100% positive.
It was strong, powerful, and really spoke to me. The only part that bothered me was the ending. It was sort of just left to your imagination, which I guess is ok because it's not like she could have ended it with 'and everyone lived happily ever after.' This book was very moving and I recommend it it anyone who can handle the truth.

Eden Streit is the daughter of a preacher and has to be a good little Christian and follow all of her parents' orders. Eden makes the mistake of falling in love with Andrew, who her parents don't approve of, and everything goes down hill from there.
Even though Eden is the opposite of me, I can relate to her and got really into her story. She felt so real to me and it felt like she was telling me her story as if she were in the room.

Seth Parnell is still mourning the loss of his mother and struggling with the two parts of himslef-the straight guy around his dad, and the gay guy who has fallin in love. Even though Seth is a guy, I suffered through every painful moment he told. He was a very likeable character who really caught my attention.

Whitney Lang is a pretty normal girl in the shadow of her perfect sister, with a mother who doesn't like her and a father who is only home on the weekends. Whitney was the easiest for me to relate to since she had a more normal life than the others. I instantly connected to her and it was really sad to read her drastic fall into prostitution.

Ginger Cordell is my favorite character I think. She lives with her grandmother and her numerous siblings(most from different fathers). Her mom is a prostitute and is rarley around. I don't know why, but Ginger stuck out the most to me. She seemed so strong and brave to me and I cried so much while reading her story.

Cody Bennett is an average guy who likes to drink and smoke(he actually reminds me of my brother minus the prostitution and smoking part). When his step-father gets fataly sick, Cody has to step up to the plate and make money the fastest way he can to support the family. Cody is a really great character and I love him for bing so selfless. Ok, being a prostitute isn't a healthy way to save your family, but he did what he had to do to help his mom.

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I.S. Anderson

Cautionary tale?

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2012

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Modern Disciples: Volume 1

Once again, Ellen Hopkins exposes the gross underbelly of humanity. Tricks is a story of five teenagers who through different circumstances end up selling sex or turning tricks as the saying goes.

As I read this one, I wondered if this was meant to be a cautionary tale for teens or their parents. Four of these teens end up doing what they do because of bad parenting, very bad parenting. A word to the wise, if you sell your kid for sex, or lock them up with nobody to take care of them but perverts who will take advantage of them, they will end up in the sex trade. With one of the girls, it is debatable if it was her parents who drove her to do what she did. A pimp who takes advantage of her at a vulnerable time tricks her into it. The fifth teen is the one who makes his decision on his own. He does do it out of desperation, but it was his own decisions that got him in that situation in the first place.

This book is not for everyone. It deals with a very ugly truth that is out there. During the time I was reading this, I spotted a girl in the mall who was not dressed very conservatively. She had on very short shorts, and a top that could hardly be considered a bra, not something you would let your girlfriend go out in public with. I noticed that there was a man walking close behind that looked to be in his late thirties early forties. You can imagine how quickly my mind went to this book. Most of the story takes place in Vegas where you would expect this sort of thing to happen. The truth is it happens everywhere to some extent.

If you don't mind reading cautionary tales about the dark side of our world, give this one a read.

One person found this helpful

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Thomas

Painfully real.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2015

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This book is brutal. It doesn't shy away from the horrors of teen prostitution -- which I applaud Hopkins for, as she has wrote a painfully real portrayal of what some teenagers/children have experienced and are experiencing around the world.

It sheds a light on a subject rarely talked about or acknowledged in today's society or any society for that matter.

This is an immensely dark read with scenes that shocked me and stayed with me long after reading. The emotional state of all 5 characters was written superbly, leaving tears in my eyes in many parts of the novel. Ellen's writing is beautifully lyrical and adds so much to the story. Hopkins writes this story with realism, demonstrating how and why each character turns to selling their body.

The themes of religion, sexuality, homophobia, relationships (parental, family & romantic), substance abuse, poverty, sex, love and of course prostitution were all handled seamlessly by Hopkins.

This story explores these serious themes brilliantly with caution, while also questioning what it means to love & what love is.

One person found this helpful

aurellie

Tricks

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2018

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Ellen Hopkins did an amazing job once again. A brilliant read you will not be disappointed. I couldn’t put the book down

matejko1811

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2015

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Excellent book, really loved it.

Simera H

5 MUST READ STARS!!!

Reviewed in Canada on August 4, 2018

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When I went to pick this book up at the library, I was surprised at how small and fat it was. Great, just what I need…a 600+ page book and hardly enough time to read. When I opened up the book and glanced at the first few pages, I was delighted and shocked the margins were so wide and there were no more than seven words per line. Then I thought, “wait a minute, this is freakin’ poetry!” Since I read so little poetry and never developed an appreciation for it, I left the library slightly disappointed. Well, Tricks isn’t exactly poetry, but a novel written in verse. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. Dishes were piling up, dust bunnies were fighting back, and I was late to work.

Tricks is a story about five deeply troubled teenagers, all from different areas, backgrounds, and family situations who end up falling into prostitution.

Each character has a story to tell. These stories are brief, and jump from one character to the next and back again. At the beginning, I was a little frustrated at how short their stories were and was afraid that I would not be able to distinguish one character from the next. It turns out there was no need to worry. Hopkins does a brilliant job of infusing her characters with life, personality and emotions. As I continued to read, and the characters’ situations became more harrowing, I found the stories very intense and was relieved there was some separation. I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed the writing style. These stories told in verse allowed me to get into the minds and feelings of the characters without extraneous detail, and helped me feel a deeper connection with them.

Tricks broke my heart and made my stomach churn. The stories were gripping, painful, and honest. My own teenage years, painful memories, wrong choices, and difficulty with parents all came flooding back. I wish my own parents could have read a book like this, just to see how their own behavior and actions could irreparably damage a child’s life.

One person found this helpful

sk

Unzurechende Zustandbeschreibung und mangelhafte Verpackung

Reviewed in Germany on January 21, 2018

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Der Versand hat innerhalb der angegebenen Zeit geklappt. Das Buch kam in Plastik eingeschweißt, das finde ich ökologisch daneben. An einer Ecke war das Plastik etwas ausgerissen, es gab keinen weiten Schutz vor möglichen Beschädigungen. Gott sei Dank war das Buch nur an der Ecke verdrückt. Leider stand nicht in der Beschreibung, dass es von einer Bücherei ausgemustert wurde, was man durch den Stempel im Buch und an den Aufklebern am Buchrücken sofort erkennt. So etwas gehört unbedingt in die Zustandsbeschreibung! Praktisch finde ich, dass das Buch rundum mit Schutzfolie beklebt ist.

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Tricks Paperback – January 24, 2017

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