TRICKS

Hopkins, Ellen. 2009. TRICKS. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division. ISBN 9781416950073. 

TRICKS takes us on the journey of five teens descending into the seedy world of teen prostitution. Eden is the daughter of a preacher. Her mother sees demons in Eden’s first brush with love and sends her off to prevent whorish behavior, which Eden ironically learns at the ranch where she’s sent. Cody deals with the devastating loss of his stepfather to cancer by spiraling downward into the world of gambling. He soon will sell anything to pay his increasing debts. Seth is looking for love and acceptance of his homosexual identity, only to be accused by his father of being a deviant; then, he becomes one. Whitney desperately seeks love from her socialite mother and successful father. She wants to be seen and noticed by them, but will accept the love of a stranger to replace her familial invisibility. And finally Ginger, who is tricked for the first time by her own mother, a prostitute whose love of money and drugs supercedes any care she has for her daughter.

Their stories begin separately, but converge in Las Vegas through a madam named Lydia. Her gentle coaxing, with promises of cash, lure most of them into a world where they sell their body along with their soul. It’s only at this convergence that the reader begins to see redemption and hope. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Hopkins delievers a graphic tale of the real-world problem of teen prostitution. A faceless trade most of us read about in newspapers, or view in 20 minute snippets on news programs, Hopkins brings us five teens with variant backgrounds. Readers will be able to connect with at least one teen, but feel sympathy for all. 

She does not shy away from describing the emotional and physical damage of the sex trade. Using organic metaphors, her descriptions are powerful.

Cody

Smoke

page148

You stand in fron to me,

Pretending to be solid,

But you are nothing

More than smoke and 

Mirrors.

You said you’d never

Leave, that you would

Care for us forever

But now you claim you

Cannot

Stay, that you’ve been

Called away. When you 

Go, who will I turn to

When it all crashes down

Tell

Me who. Then tell me

How I can believe in

Anyone again, if all you

Promises have been

Lies.

Notice the technique of typing the words to the right of the primary verse. Now, read them going down; it’s a second layer to the poem. A statement of truth organic to the message.

The narrative is told in alternating viewpoints. As the characters share their stories, we get the opportunity to compare them, contrast them, understand them. The stories run parallel through their beginning to middle to end. The endings are the most difficult. Some are satisfactory to the reader, while others leave the reader wishing a more hopeful ending. But then, isn’t that the point? In the arena of teen prostitution, sometimes the endings are heartbreaking.

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND LESSON

This is a high school level verse novel. It would be best introduced and read in an English or Social Studies class, or even a Health class, for the purpose of exploring the issues behind teen prostitution and the exploitation of children. 

To introduce this novel, or the topic of child exploitation, I recommend reading a poem found on page two:

Eden

Some People

Never find the right kind of love.

You know, the kind that steals

Your breath away, like diving into snowmelt.

The kind that jolts your heart,

Sets it beating apace, an anxious

Hiccuping of hummingbird wings.

The kind that makes every terrible

Minut apart feel like hours. Days.

Some people flit from one possibility

To the next, never experiencing the incredible

Connection of two people, rocked by destiny.

Never knowing what it means to love

Someone else more than themselves.

More than life itself, or the promise

Of something better, beyond this world.

More, even (forgive me!) than God.

Lucky me. I found the right kind 

Of love. With the wrong person.

Why read a poem about the power of love to introduce a novel about teen prostitution? It sets the norm. It provides the image of what every person deserves: to be deeply connected and loved by another person. I would lead a Socratic Circle to discuss the poem and then launch into a deeper study of the verse novel or a study of the social issue of teen prostitution.