Traffick

September 1, 2015
Five white teens move on with their lives after doing sex work in Las Vegas. At the end of Tricks (2009), three of the five protagonists saw glimmers of hope, one was stuck in a rut, and one had been shot. This sequel picks up with Cody in the hospital, awakening to learn that he's paralyzed from the waist down. Whitney, who had overdosed, heads home to an emotionally distant family, facing PTSD and addictions to drugs and to her pimp. Ginger has a kind grandmother waiting-but also a mother who's been selling Ginger to men. Eden can't go home: her fundamentalist parents sent her to a reform camp where she needed to trade sex for food. Farm boy Seth is still being kept by a sugar daddy and tricking on the side. "Tricking chews / you up from the inside out," but with some help-including two too-good-to-be-true romantic partners-can these kids "chisel a better path?" Hopkins' free verse shows the rhythm of their steady yet halting progress. Reading Tricks first is mandatory, both because this period of their lives ties so tightly to the teens' distant and recent pasts and because, while their back stories are distinct, their first-person narrative voices aren't. Less startling than its predecessor; a hopeful aftermath tale for readers already attached to these characters. (Verse fiction. 14-18)

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September 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-In this sequel to Tricks (S. & S., 2009), the author revisits the lives of five very different young adults who ended up victims of sex trafficking in Las Vegas. Hopkins spares no details while relaying the dire circumstances Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger, and Cody experienced and yet still manages to infuse each character's story with hope. The protagonists have to decide what their futures will hold and how much they want to fight to get there. Reading the first novel is not necessary, as enough backstory is provided. However, some readers may prefer to understand the teens' path to sex trafficking before reading this story of redemption. Hopkins clearly has done her research, as detailed in an author's note, and the stories carry even more weight when readers realize that this is the reality many children and teens face. Hopkins's use of free verse allows the raw emotion to shine through, and mature teens will hang on to every word. VERDICT Ordering is a must for libraries where the first was popular. Recommended widely for older YA readers.-Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 Hopkins' brick-shaped novels in verse are by now comfortingly familiar in both format and theme. This sequel to Tricks (2009) continues the stories of five young prostitutes in Las Vegas: male, female, gay, straight, wealthy, poor, urban, and rural. Hopkins also calls attention to the plight of transgendered teens through a young transgender would-be model who is brutally beaten. As always, well-grouped sections, where the first entry identifies the character talking, keep the large cast and complex stories manageable, and Hopkins' undeniable empathy for young people remains sincere and moving. The five protagonists individually struggle to leave prostitution behind with varying degrees of support and success. Although some may bristle at the resolution of Eden's story, Hopkins' focus on domestic minor sex trafficking sheds light on an issue of great importance and interest to teens without romanticizing the subject. The author's note on the final two pages offers resources with contact information and informative statistics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)