SMALL STEPS is a hip young adult novel from Louis Sachar, the New York Times bestselling author of the Newbery Award–winning smash hit...
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May 11, 2008
Jennifer
rated it: 
Reviewed by Christian C. for TeensReadToo.com
Remember Armpit, from HOLES? It's been two years since he was released from Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility, and ever since, he's been trying to stay clean. In order to stay clean, he's established for himself five small steps:
1. Graduate from high school.
2. Get a job.
3. Save his money.
4. Avoid situations that might turn violent.
5. Lose the name Armpit.
(By the way, this i More...
Remember Armpit, from HOLES? It's been two years since he was released from Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility, and ever since, he's been trying to stay clean. In order to stay clean, he's established for himself five small steps:
1. Graduate from high school.
2. Get a job.
3. Save his money.
4. Avoid situations that might turn violent.
5. Lose the name Armpit.
(By the way, this i More...
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Jun 08, 2008
Lucy
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Last we saw Armpit, he was digging holes at Camp Green Lake. Now, Armpit (nicknamed for a wasp bite on his armpit) is still digging holes, but now he's getting paid for it, working for a landscaper in his hometown of Austin, TX. Armpit (or Theodore, as he prefers to be called) is trying to straighten his life out after two years of juvie, while everyone is expecting the worst of him. The only person who believes in him is his feisty ten-year-old neighbor Ginny, who has cerebral palsy. He is earn
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Dec 08, 2007
Robert
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I was reluctant to read Small Steps since Holes is my all-time favorite book and I had heard several negative things from readers concerning how Armpit and X-Ray were handled.
After reading the book, I can see where some people might be disappointed (it's not Holes). However, I found Sachar's ability to weave several stories together to be captivating. His strength of creating "acting true to who they are characters" is on display as Theodore finds himself interacting with dive More...
After reading the book, I can see where some people might be disappointed (it's not Holes). However, I found Sachar's ability to weave several stories together to be captivating. His strength of creating "acting true to who they are characters" is on display as Theodore finds himself interacting with dive More...
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Jan 09, 2008
Susanne
rated it: 
I can't tell if this was supposed to be a young adult book or not. Small Steps is a sequel to the book Holes, which was fun to read. In this second book, Sachar follows Armpit as he transitions back into society after his stint at Camp Green Lake. I thought the premise had potential, but in my opinion, it was a fairly transparent story about puppy love and cliche rehabilitation. The book ends with a startling act of violence which doesn't fit with the rest of the story, and then leaves the t
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Nov 30, 2008
Bruce
rated it:
Theodore Johnson a/k/a Armpit is taking the advice of the counselor in his halfway house. He’s taking change in his life in small steps. He’s making the transition from inmate at Camp Greenlake, a notorious Texas boot camp for juvenile offenders back into civil society. He’s doing all right. He has a steady job with a landscape contractor; he’s saving his pay, and going to summer school to complete high school. It’s all going well until his old friend X-Ray stops by with a sure fire way to make
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Jan 05, 2012
Jinky
rated it: 
(3.5)
I enjoyed Holes so I thought I'd read another from this author. I was not disappointed. This was a surprisingly gripping story. An off-shoot from a couple of the characters in Holes, Armpit and X-ray return in this novel. Armpit putting to work what his counselor had advised him to do ..take small steps, hence he set 5 goals for himself: graduate from high school, get a job, save his money, avoid situations that might turn violent, and lose the name Armpit. X-ray of course had to More...
I enjoyed Holes so I thought I'd read another from this author. I was not disappointed. This was a surprisingly gripping story. An off-shoot from a couple of the characters in Holes, Armpit and X-ray return in this novel. Armpit putting to work what his counselor had advised him to do ..take small steps, hence he set 5 goals for himself: graduate from high school, get a job, save his money, avoid situations that might turn violent, and lose the name Armpit. X-ray of course had to More...
Aug 20, 2011
Yorick
rated it:
*Look ma, no spoilers!*
This is a well-written book. After I read Holes which I thought was amazing and practically perfect, I couldn't dare to read anything else that Sachar had written for fear of disappointment. How could he write anything as perfect as Holes?
Then this book came out, and since it was some of the same characters from Holes, I read it. First of all, it's good; it's worth your time to read. And if it happens that you don't like the magical realism of Holes More...
This is a well-written book. After I read Holes which I thought was amazing and practically perfect, I couldn't dare to read anything else that Sachar had written for fear of disappointment. How could he write anything as perfect as Holes?
Then this book came out, and since it was some of the same characters from Holes, I read it. First of all, it's good; it's worth your time to read. And if it happens that you don't like the magical realism of Holes More...
Aug 12, 2011
Janet
rated it:
What's easy about being the sequel to Holes is that any implausibilities of plot are irreproachable, 'cause you can't hardly get more implausible than Holes and it was awesome. What's hard is simply that you're the sequel to Holes. Because it was awesome. High bar. I'm embarrassed to admit it took me 5 years to get around to actually reading Small Steps, the story of Armpit's X-Ray-influenced adventures back home in Austin, trying to get his life turned around after his time at Camp Green La
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Aug 09, 2011
Amy
rated it:
This is a spin-off book from Holes with the story centered on Armpit (actually named Theodore) and X-Ray.
Armpit has goals: get a job, save money, graduate from high school, stay out of trouble. X-Ray makes attaining some of these goals very difficult for Armpit.
Theodore has changed his life after being released from Camp Green Lake. He has a job working for a lawn service, he's in summer school to catch up for time out while he was serving his sentence at Camp Green La More...
Armpit has goals: get a job, save money, graduate from high school, stay out of trouble. X-Ray makes attaining some of these goals very difficult for Armpit.
Theodore has changed his life after being released from Camp Green Lake. He has a job working for a lawn service, he's in summer school to catch up for time out while he was serving his sentence at Camp Green La More...
Aug 08, 2011
Kressel
rated it:
Stanley and Zero had their happy ending at the end of Holes, so Louis Sachar did a sequel of sorts starring two of the minor characters from Camp Green Lake, Armpit and X-Ray. Armpit is trying to put his life back together. He’s got a legitimate job and he’s enrolled in summer school, taking speech and economics. But when X-Ray shows up and pressures him into a ticket scalping scheme, Armpit, against his better judgment, joins in. Naturally, they have just enough success to want to keep it going
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Jul 24, 2011
J.
rated it:
Theodore aka Armpit a character from Louis Sachar’s 1999 Newbery Medal winning novel, Holes, is hard at work digging holes again, but this time it’s for a job with a landscaping company. His old friend Rex aka X-ray conspires to make a few bucks scalping concert tickets. Armpit decides he wants to use the last two tickets, but when X-ray is offered $300 for the tickets he can’t resist and sells them.
He gives Armpit two counterfeit tickets without telling him they’re counterfeit. When A More...
He gives Armpit two counterfeit tickets without telling him they’re counterfeit. When A More...
Jul 06, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
First thing's first: I really enjoyed this book. I just finished it (in one train ride and a lunch break), and there could be various reasons inflating my rating, including it just being the right book to scratch the particular book itch that I've had for the past week, or because I found it refreshing to once again pick up a youth book that deals with potentially controversial issues such as race and the fate of former juvey kids.
In the same vein, and as a warning, Small Steps isn' More...
In the same vein, and as a warning, Small Steps isn' More...
Jul 02, 2011
Blackraven
rated it:
The describing events taking place in „Holes“.After what happenend at Camp Green Lake. If you want to know what happend at Camp Green Lake and how Holes are important for your personality read „Holes“.
A few years after Camp Green Lake.
Armpit and X-Ray are friends and they had the great idea to buy concert tickets and selling them. Armpit gave the money to do it so X-Ray can sell them to other people. Armpit (his real name is Theodore) really wanted to see the concert. Armpit doe More...
A few years after Camp Green Lake.
Armpit and X-Ray are friends and they had the great idea to buy concert tickets and selling them. Armpit gave the money to do it so X-Ray can sell them to other people. Armpit (his real name is Theodore) really wanted to see the concert. Armpit doe More...
Jun 06, 2011
Kay
rated it:
I've had Small Steps on my TBR pile for some time. I've put off reading it because I wasn't sure how anyone--even Louis Sachar--could top what he accomplished with Holes. I'm glad I finally picked it up. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon in the hammock on my birthday.
Small Steps tell the story of Armpit once he was released from Camp Green Lake. It's two years later, and Armpit--now known by his real name Theodore--is taking small steps to get his life back on track. More...
Small Steps tell the story of Armpit once he was released from Camp Green Lake. It's two years later, and Armpit--now known by his real name Theodore--is taking small steps to get his life back on track. More...
May 26, 2011
Jordan
rated it:
Small Steps is about a 17 year old boy named Theodore, AKA Armpit from the previous novel written by Loius Sachar, "Holes." In the story of Small Steps Theodore faces challenges along the lines of trust. His parents do not rust him, he does not trust his friends, and him and the Pop Star singer by the name of Kaira DeLeon do not trust their love for each other. Throughout the story Armpit and his friend X-Ray attempt to create a ticket scalping business, trying to re-sell tickets for K
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May 04, 2011
Monique
rated it:
I choose to read this book because i wanted to read the second book of holes. The genre is fiction, but I think it could happen. The setting is at Armpit's work and at a concert and New York. The main character is Armpit and he went to a camp called Camp Greenlake. The camp was for kids that did bad things. Armpit is not his real name but people call him that because he got stung by a scorpein in the armpit. in the begining he is working at the mayers house doing yard work. Then his friend X-ray
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Jan 04, 2011
KidsFiction
rated it:
J SACHAR
Gladiola-3 stars
Your may remember Armpit and X-ray from Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility in the book Holes. In this book, Armpit is trying to turn his life around by taking small steps forward. He has a job working for a landscaper in his hometown of Austin, TX. Things are going well until he fronts the money for his friend, X-ray who has a "get-rich-quick" scheme by scalping tickets to a concert to a teenage pop star, Kaira De Leon. More...
Gladiola-3 stars
Your may remember Armpit and X-ray from Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility in the book Holes. In this book, Armpit is trying to turn his life around by taking small steps forward. He has a job working for a landscaper in his hometown of Austin, TX. Things are going well until he fronts the money for his friend, X-ray who has a "get-rich-quick" scheme by scalping tickets to a concert to a teenage pop star, Kaira De Leon. More...
Dec 09, 2010
Molly
rated it:
The sequel to Holes is a much simpler story. Theodore (aka "Armpit") has been out of Camp Greenlake for two years and is doing his best to get his life back on track. He's going to school and he's got a job and he's saving his money. It's not easy for a black teenager with a criminal record, though. No one seems to trust him, not even his own parents. Theodore is frustrated, but he's doing his best. That is, until one of his old friends from camp breezes into town and convinces h
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Dec 05, 2010
Scott
rated it:
Armpit is saving money by doing landscaping work. X-Ray comes to him with an idea that could double his money by scalping tickets. Armpit reluctantly agrees, but after they purchase the tickets, he has second thoughts: what if he doesn't get his money back? From there, the plot becomes more and complicated — and exciting.
This book had me on the edge of my seat most of the way. My heart beat faster as I was worried about Armpit and the other characters, and what would happen to them. Ev More...
This book had me on the edge of my seat most of the way. My heart beat faster as I was worried about Armpit and the other characters, and what would happen to them. Ev More...
Jul 06, 2010
sonofabit
rated it:
Great book! Wanted to rate 4.5 stars but Goodreads won't let me. It read just as well as the original Holes (probably my favorite book besides H2G2), but didn't force itself to be a "sequel" (which it isn't).
The only thing keeping it from 5 stars was that I felt that it should have been about two chapters longer, with a more complete epilogue of the story. Everything kind of just wrapped up at the end, and it felt rushed. In Holes, the story was fully closed out, and everyt More...
The only thing keeping it from 5 stars was that I felt that it should have been about two chapters longer, with a more complete epilogue of the story. Everything kind of just wrapped up at the end, and it felt rushed. In Holes, the story was fully closed out, and everyt More...
May 30, 2010
Annie
rated it:
It’s difficult having a bad reputation, especially when you’re willing to turn your life around. Theodore, “Armpit”, is trying to do this. Armpit is trying to take small steps toward success. When he returns from Camp Green Lake, which was a punishment for his previous crime, he wants to succeed in life but no one can trust him anymore except his next door younger neighbor named Ginny, who has cerebral palsy. Then, his friend from Camp Green Lake, “X-Ray”, tells Armpit of a way to make tons
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Nov 13, 2009
Becky
rated it:
So I could not place this under realistic fiction, because I just do not think the plot of this book has even a chance of happening. At first, I had a hard time getting into this book. It took me a few chapters, but then it just flew. Well up until near the end. Then it was too hard to suspend my disbelief that finishing the book became pretty difficult. Circumstances were either too convenient or too unconvenient. Also, the actions of some characters made me think that it was impossible someone
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Jul 28, 2009
Lisa
rated it:
I loved Holes and this book was a kind of sequal, following Armpit and X-ray. It was a good story. I read it because my son checked it out and I was interested and he was reading something else first. And I'm glad I read it before him because now he's not going to. At least not for a few (hm, maybe 8) years. One of the hard things with having an advanced reader is finding subject matter that is appropriate. (I'll take suggestions, he doesn't usually like mine) which is why I was okay with
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Jun 15, 2009
Lorihudeck
rated it:
This sequel to Holes focuses on Armpit, a character first introduced in the original novel. While this was an intriguing piece that deals with issues of trying to earn redemption and respect from people who are supposed to give it to you (like family), I felt it was not quite as good as the original. Of course, to be fair, Holes was an amazing novel which weaved three seemingly totally different plot lines in three completely different settings together into one smooth, compelling and entertai
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Jun 01, 2009
Courtney
rated it: 
Book title: Small Steps
Author: Louis Sachar
Reviewed by: Courtney Mumma
I expected more from award winning author Louis Sachar. His book Small Steps is just like all of the other imitation Cinderella stories. The original was the best because it was new and exciting. After I had read a bazillion love stories with the same plot line and same ending it got a little old.
Two people meet, the two people fall in love, the two people can’t see each other, and the t More...
Author: Louis Sachar
Reviewed by: Courtney Mumma
I expected more from award winning author Louis Sachar. His book Small Steps is just like all of the other imitation Cinderella stories. The original was the best because it was new and exciting. After I had read a bazillion love stories with the same plot line and same ending it got a little old.
Two people meet, the two people fall in love, the two people can’t see each other, and the t More...
Apr 05, 2009
April
rated it:
A follow-up to Holes, Small Steps takes on Armpit's story as he attempts to rehabilitate himself after leaving Camp Green Lake. He does well, as long as he doesn't listen to X-Ray, another former CGL inmate who lives nearby.
It's X-Ray's idea to scalp tickets to an upcoming Kaira DeLeon concert, and Armpit goes along with it. Everything blows up when Armpit attends the concert with his neighbor, a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy, and his tickets are counterfeit. There's a silver li More...
It's X-Ray's idea to scalp tickets to an upcoming Kaira DeLeon concert, and Armpit goes along with it. Everything blows up when Armpit attends the concert with his neighbor, a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy, and his tickets are counterfeit. There's a silver li More...
Nov 20, 2011
Small Steps by Louis Sachar
Report by Michael Crispi
Small Steps is about a black boy named Theodore (also known as "Armpit") who lives in Texas. A kid named X-Ray offers Theodore a deal to help sell tickets for a pop star concert starring a girl named Kiara Deleon. X-Ray is a kid who Theodore met at Camp Green Lake - a juvenile correction camp. The deal involves scalping concert tickets. Theodore thinks the deal is a bad idea but X-Ray persuades him. X-Ray gives T More...
Report by Michael Crispi
Small Steps is about a black boy named Theodore (also known as "Armpit") who lives in Texas. A kid named X-Ray offers Theodore a deal to help sell tickets for a pop star concert starring a girl named Kiara Deleon. X-Ray is a kid who Theodore met at Camp Green Lake - a juvenile correction camp. The deal involves scalping concert tickets. Theodore thinks the deal is a bad idea but X-Ray persuades him. X-Ray gives T More...
May 12, 2010
Cosawe
rated it:
Do you remember Armpit and X-Ray from the novel Holes? Probably, not. I did not until watching the movie over again. When you think about that book the name that comes to mind is not Armpit or X-Ray; it is Stanley Yelnats, the star of the novel. Louis Sachar did an amazing job writing Holes, which won a Newberry Medal, and it turned into a major motion picture. He decided to use Armpit from that novel to shape his almost “sequel”, Small Steps.
The last we see of Theodore “Armpit” John More...
The last we see of Theodore “Armpit” John More...
Oct 03, 2011
Anne
rated it:
It has been a long time since I read HOLES, so I came to this sequel as if I had never met Armpit and X-Ray. SMALL STEPS is a stand-alone novel for slightly older readers than the HOLES crowd, and as such, explores the life of a good young man who has made bad decisions in the past and is still too easily swayed by a conniving friend (X-Ray). I like how Armpit struggles to put his past behind him, and was sorry his parents kept him pigeonholed as a troublemaker. Through a complicated plot that
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May 13, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
This book took me aback at first. I've read HOLES & while you are not required to read one to undersatnd the other, it does carry some of the characters. HOLES is more an elementary age book so I expected this book to be along the same line.
I was suprised to find it wasn't.
At first, I struggled to get into the book but knowing the author, knowing HOLES & wanting to use it as a book in one of my book clubs, I forged on. I found the book, or maybe it was more my " More...
I was suprised to find it wasn't.
At first, I struggled to get into the book but knowing the author, knowing HOLES & wanting to use it as a book in one of my book clubs, I forged on. I found the book, or maybe it was more my " More...
