Has anyone ever read Holes (by Louis Sachar)? Well this is sort of the sequel. Armpit and X-Ray are now about 17 years old, and Armpit has a job working for the landscape gardening company, which he happens to be very good at because of all the digging he had to do at Camp Green Lake. When Armpit and his old mate X-Ray get mixed up in a ticket scam, things start to get messy, and with the choice of choosing between the popular singer and potential girlfriend Kiara DeLeon, or acing his economics final, Armpit knows he has to take small steps. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick, funny and satisfying read.I chose to read this book because I needed something to read, and I had read Holes, so when I picked this book up I knew I was in for a good read! The category this book fits into is a book with a male main character. I found this category interesting because most of the books I read in my spare time are not usually with a male protagonist, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this!My favourite characters in novels are usually the main characters, as we get to know so much about them and we can connect to them etc... but in this story my favourite character is Ginny, the ten year old girl who lives in the other half of Armpit's house with her mother. Ginny was born with cerebral palsy, which means her muscles and limbs don't function properly, but that doesn't get in the way of her friendship with Armpit. I think Ginny is such an amazing girl, because she doesn't let her disability stop her. Armpit is so loyal to her, and they make such good friends. One of the main reasons why I like Ginny so much is because I find her quite inspirational. We get to learn that Ginny has a lot of stuffed toys in her bedroom, but each one of them is special in it's own way. The toys all have disabilities just like Ginny. Hoo-Hooter, an owl with surprisingly large eyes, is blind, and Daisy, a basset-hound with long floppy ears, is deaf. Each and every one of her toys has a disability, which I find quite cute. I think the reason why I admire Ginny so much is because although she gets teased, she has created her own circle of toys where she belongs, and where she's not weird and different. My favourite quote in this book, isn't really a quote, but a sentence: Armpit's economics teacher had told them about a donkey standing in the middle of two haystacks. Since it had no reason to choose one haystack over the other, it just stayed in the middle until it died of hunger. I think this is a good lesson, because if you had two options, and you had to choose between them, it is really important to make a decision, because otherwise you will spend too late deliberating and it will be too late.I didn't learn a whole lot from this book, but I learnt to be yourself from Ginny, and don't be let down from other people's opinions. I also learnt, from Armpit, to go with your gut, although he didn't do it, because we learn he know he should have so he didn't get stuck in the case. Overall - Great book - 5 stars!
Sachar is a good writer, regardless of the style or level of writing (geared to Young Adults as the 10 to 15-year-old tweeners that libraries aim his books toward are known). He succeeds (at least as well as I can tell being a 48-year-old father of three kids who went through that stage a few years back) at hitting the sweet spot of that market with smart, funny, insightful, writing that makes good reading even for adults.This is a followup to his smash title Holes, which I also read and reviewed and became a very good Hollywood movie starring Shia Lebeouf, Jon Voight, and Sigourney Weaver. In Small Steps, Armpit and X-Ray, two of the delinquents who have graduated from Camp Green Lake (neither green, nor a lake, the boys were punished and "reformed" by digging holes day after day looking for buried treasure; read the book or see the movie) and the legal system and trying to return to law-abiding society. Armpit has grown into a strong, handsome African-American man of 17, working as a landscaper while taking summer classes to catch up and and be able to graduate from high school. While he has served his legal penalty, he still faces scrutiny from his parents, uncertainty from his classmates, and fear from the society around him; Sachar frankly talks about the casual racism Armpit (real and preferred name Theodore) faces on a regular basis. Theodore is taking the small steps of the title toward his life goals, while best friends with his duplex neighbor Ginny, a 10-year-old white girl who has cerebral palsy.When X-Ray approaches Theodore with a scheme to make money buying and scalping tickets to the local concert of the latest sultry teenage singer, Theodore's small steps start veering off the track, and threaten to derail his plans. While Sachar is clear that Theodore makes some bad choices, he is also sympathetic toward the pressures he faces.Theodore convinces X-Ray to save the last two tickets so that he and Ginny can go to the concert, a fun trip that goes awry when this odd couple is accused of having counterfeit tickets. This sequence of events drives the story to its climax, and Sachar does a good job of bringing the book to an exciting, believable, and (yes!) happy ending.
What do You think about Small Steps (2006)?
I loved Holes so I was happy to find this book with some of the same characters. And I have to say right off that Louis Sachar should write song lyrics. The ones in his book were really good. Maybe Lady Gaga could hire him because whoever she has doing that job keeps coming up with stuff like, "Tonight, yeah baby, tonight".But I digress.Anyway, I liked the book. In a couple of places I wanted to yell out instructions to the main character.My only complaint was the ending. I wanted more of a romance and was disappointed it ended the way it did. Although I guess it shouldn't have surprised me since the book is clearly written for boys and not women who like romance novels. (Give me a guy with a wry smile and a brooding gaze any day . . .)
—Janette
Small Steps by Louis Sachar is an Action/Adventure novel about 17 year old Thedore "Armpit" Johnson, who has been released from Camp Green Lake two years ago and is back living in Austin, Texas. Armpit is in summer school, and has a job, he is trying to make something of himself and the only person who believes in him is his neighbor Ginny who is handicapped and is 10 years old. While Armpit is taking small steps at a time his friend from Green Lake, X-Ray, comes to him with a plan to make money by scalping tickets to a famous pop singer's concert, her name is Kaira Deleon. Something goes wrong thus leading up to Armpit meeting Kaira, and after he meets her, things go spiraling out of control for the both of them. I like many things about the book. I like how the author builds up the story and the problems plaguing Armpit. The story is very exciting, it will keep the book in your hands and eyes on the paper at all times. There is a lot of build up to the situations that occur in the book which caught my attention. The situations are intense and very realistic. I would recommend Small Steps to all readers. I didn't find anything wrong with the book. The situations and build up kept me reading the book, it seemed like the book had control over me. If there is a follow up to Small Steps I would definitely go and purchase it.
—Damarri King
I loved this sequel to Holes. It was a great depiction of a young man taking small steps to get his life back on track after his time in juvenile detention. Sachar really showed how much Armpit had matured from his time at Camp Greenlake and the months after. He had a lot going for him and some trouble set against him (his old pal X-ray). But the best part was his relationship with Jenny, a young girl who lives next door with cerebral palsy. It was amazing to see how his decisions were affected by wanting to be a better man for her. This was a humorous, character-driven book and I loved every minute of it!
—Jaret
