Ellen Hopkins' Tricks (2009) is a novel told in verse. The novel follows five teenagers in the United States, each of whom is struggling with drug addiction or sex and the related situations they find themselves in because of it. The first story thread follows Eden Streit, who is expected by her family to wait for sex until marriage. However, her boyfriend, Andrew, has other ideas. The novel's next thread follows Seth Parnell, who wrestles with his sexuality. Next, the novel follows Cody Bennett, who spends time searching for his biological father but struggles mentally because of it, turning to alcohol as an unhealthy way to cope. In the following story, Whitney Lang deals with her values surrounding sex and whether she should commit to a relationship with a young man named Lucas. The final story follows Ginger Cordell, who was raped at a young age and starts to consider her own sexuality—particularly as it relates to her friend, Alex.
As with Hopkins' previous work, Tricks was met with largely positive reviews. In their review of the novel, Kirkus Reviews wrote that "Hopkins’s pithy free verse reveals shards of emotion and quick glimpses of physical detail. It doesn’t matter that the first-person voices blur, because the stories are distinct and unmistakable." Still, the novel wasn't without controversy. It was banned at schools across the United States because of its mature themes, drug use, and explicit language.
