Author's Note For Picture Book

   Bullying has been a very common issue everywhere, mostly in schools. Most people are bullied because of their appearance, race, etc. Most people bullies others, not knowing how much it can hurt someone, or not realizing that they're acting like bullies. Bullying not only happen in the outside world, but it also happens on the internet, called cyber bully.
   Almost everyone has been bullied some point in their life. Even though I don't have much experience on being bullied, I have seen many people being bullied or being a bully in school. In my middle school, there is a girl being bullied internally because of her appearance. Even if the bullies don't say the words out loud in front of her, they tend to ignore her or look embarrassed being near her. But, there are always other people out there, not judging others by their appearance, race, etc. It's not the end of the world when you have no friends or your friends left you. There's always an opportunity to make new friends, or even better friends that understands you.
   I wrote this book to show how much bullying can hurt someone, and how you shouldn't keep your feelings to yourself. Find new friends if your old friends are bullying you, and don't stay with them and act like they're not hurting your feelings.

Synthesis Page

Crank by Ellen Hopkins 

Critical Thinking Question: How does this book help you to think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to?

1. Drug Addiction: Kristina was a straight-A high school student and a perfect daughter. Ever since she tried Crank, she became addicted to it, and started becoming the monster side of herself. For example, she started hitchhiking, and was caught by a cop and sent to Juvenile hall. I think that drug addiction is a common issue for teenagers and adults. It can cause someone to change a lot in many horrible ways, and it's not easy to control this issue. Drug addiction seems to be really strong once you tried drugs for the first time, and you may continue to get addicted to it.

2. Raping: At first, Brendan seemed like a good boyfriend for Kristina, but, he only used Kristina for raping. I think that raping is a serious problem, and can be really harmful to people. It can ruin someones life, make someone suicide, etc. Raping seemed to be common in some books dealing with social issues, and mostly happens in unexpected love.

3. Helping someone with their social issue in a bad way: Kristina was addicted to Crank, and she was desperate for more when she ran out. She would mostly do anything to get more Crank. Brendan offered Kristina more Crank in exchange of raping her, except that Brendan didn't actually state that he wanted to rape her. Drug addiction is a serious issue, and Brendan is helped Kristina getting more Crank, making her more addicted and crazy. I think that people shouldn't help others, when they know that it would destroy them, or even more. It's a common social issue in this world, and most people don't care about it, since it doesn't affect themselves.