Introduction and Part I Introduction Summary and Analysis

Between 1995 and 2002, author Ellen Hopkins had a rough spell. She was having difficulty in her marriage, was in deep debt and she still had a young child to raise. All this was due to the behavior of her middle child Kristina [not her daughter's real name] and her dalliance with methamphetamine also known as crystal meth. The first signs that Kristina was in trouble were her grades. The former A+ student began getting Bs which was acceptable but when the grades devolved to Cs and Ds, Ellen knew that something was very wrong.

Coupling her slide in grades with a new argumentative attitude toward everyone in the house and her newly acquired addiction to cigarettes, Ellen and John, her husband, began to probe into what was behind the aberrant behavior. They expected drugs...