Small Steps (by Louis Sachar)

After his visit at Camp Green Lake, Armpit (Theodore) returns home to a family that is very overprotective. His life seems busy with all sorts of activities and people. After a while his old friend, X-ray (Rex), offers him an opportunity to increase the money in his bank account by 600 dollars. He only needs to put $600 on the line. "Don't worry, it's guaranteed" —X-ray. So they buy tickets to the Kaira DeLeon concert. They scalp the tickets. When they have sold all but two for $135 each Armpit asks a girl to go with him. All these events lead up to one big complicated romance, which takes off into events that resemble real life and its mysteries. This book seems to have been written by a completely different author. In Holes Stanley and Zero are stuck in a pit with scorpions and then everything bad happens, but Sachar turned it around in just about five pages. However this book could have had quite the turn around in two ways, but he decided to end it with Theodore sad as can be. This portrays a romance that ended the wrong way. Sachar could have easily done something else but decided not to. That drug related content was small and had nothing to do with the core of the book. The portrayed message was direct, but made no sense. What are kids supposed to do with "take small steps if you are a criminal?” That aspect of the book could have been better. In the beginning I longed for more description, but none came. This book was a poor sequel to "Holes" but an ok book on its own. If you are a very emotional person, this book is just enough to throw you over. If you are looking for a sad ending I would recommend "Stargirl" instead.