Tricks (Tricks #1)
Publisher
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Year
2017
ISBN
9781481498241
Pages
626 pages
Genre
realism
Format
novel in verse
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
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?”
Grade Level
9-12
Lexile Measure
HL590L
Diversity Topics
Family Relationships, LGBTQ (Gender and Sexuality); Disability and Health; Family member death; Kinship care; Family violence; Homelessness; Poverty; Gay/Lesbian; Addiction; death of a parent; death of a mother; death of a step father; grandparents raising grandchildren; abusive parent; sexual abuse; homeless teenager; gay; gay teenager; lesbian; lesbian teenager; alcoholism; drug abuse; heroin addiction
Main Character
female teenagers; male teenagers
Race/Ethnicities
White
Family Formation
multiple
LGBTQ+
gay male; lesbian female
Awards
Goodreads Choice Award, 2009, Nominee, Young Adult Fiction
Poetry Picks, 2009
Pure Poetry, 2009
Rainbow List, 2010 Fiction
Stuff for the Teen Age, 2010 Deal With It
Keywords
teenage prostitution; escorts; family problems; emotional problems; Las Vegas; photography; survival; debt; homophobia; sex
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Hopkins, Ellen, "Tricks (Tricks #1)" (2017). Diverse Families. 1536.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/1536