FURTHER READING ABOUT THE AUTHOR READING GROUP GUIDE The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko Louis Sachar Sachar © Perry Hagopian IN BRIEF BY THE SAME AUTHOR Holes Since leaving Camp Green lake Detention Centre Armpit has been Stanley Yelnats’ Survival Guide to Camp Green lake Louis Sachar was born on March 20, 1954, in East Meadow, New keeping his head down, working on his five ‘small steps’; he’s kept The Boy Who Lost His Face York. He studied economics at the University of California and while out of trouble, enrolled in summer school, got himself a job, Dogs Don't Tell Jokes there became a teacher’s aide in his spare time to gain extra credits saved some money, but still can’t shake off his hated nickname. There's a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom for his degree. It became his favourite class and inspired him to write Enter X-Ray, Armpit’s old friend from Camp Green lake, armed children's books. After graduation he worked in a sweater warehouse The Marvin Redpost Series with a scam to make both their fortunes. Megastar Kaira DeLeon Kidnapped at Birth in Connecticut and wrote at night. Sideways Stories from Wayside is performing in their hometown. X-Ray’s plan is to buy as many Why Pick on Me? School was accepted by a publisher in his first week at law school. tickets as they can and sell them at an enormous profit. When Is He A Girl? After completing his studies in 1980 he became a part-time lawyer, they find themselves stuck with two tickets Armpit decides to Alone in His Teacher's House but was successful enough as a writer to give up practising law and take his young friend Ginny to the show. Suddenly faced with an Class President write full-time from 1989. eager buyer with money to burn, X-Ray decides to settle the A Flying Birthday Cake? problem by photocopying the tickets. The result is a close Super Fast Out of Control! Although Sachar had published many children’s books in the USA, encounter with the police for Armpit, the fulfillment of a dream A Magic Crystal? Holes was the first to be published in the UK. The book was a huge for Ginny and the chance to make two real friends for Kaira. But success in both countries and was voted one of the BBC Big Read’s The Wayside School Series Kaira’s life is not as enviable as it might seem and soon Armpit Sideways Stories from Wayside School Top 100. It was made into a film in 2003 for which Sachar wrote finds himself caught up in the plots that surround her. A love Wayside School is Falling Down the screenplay. Louis Sachar now lives in Austin, Texas. story, a thriller and a tale of true friendship and courage, Louis Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger Sachar’s companion novel to Holes is every bit as gripping. Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School More Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School BACKGROUND time I start a new novel it seems like an impossible undertaking. If I many people seem nervous around Armpit? Does he deserve this reac- tried to do too much too quickly, I would get lost and feel overwhelmed. tion? What kind of person is he? I have to go slow, and give things a chance to take form and grow.’ It’s · ‘Let me ask you something”, she said directing her attention to the Following on from the internationally acclaimed Holes Louis Sachar has been well over seven years since the American publication of Holes, a officer. Would the gesture have been so threatening if he was white?’ chosen two characters who shared D tent with Stanley Yelnats (a.k.a. gap explained by Sachar as partly due to his intense involvement with (page 109). How does Sachar deal with the issue of race in the novel? Caveman) at Camp Green lake and put them centre stage in Small Steps, the filming of the book; seven years may seem a very long time but, as his gripping and very different new novel. Armpit, now as desperate to Small Steps proves, some things are well worth waiting for. · When Felix explains what will happen to ticket prices should supply lose his nickname as he once was to keep it, is the main character, suddenly go up (page 41) Armpit’s economics lessons suddenly make determined to keep out of trouble, while X-Ray, still with an eye to the sense to him. What does Louis Sachar have to say about education and main chance, is the one with the perfect scheme to make their fortune. the real world? What do you think? On being asked why he chose Armpit as his main protagonist Sachar FOR DISCUSSION has said ‘I tend to write about underdogs’, going on to explain that ‘It · ‘Just what Kaira wanted – her personal letter read by millions of peo- ple over the Internet. But if he didn’t sell Felix the letter, then X-Ray seemed to me that life would be tough for an African-American teenag- · When Armpit leaves the San Antonio halfway house he decides to er from a low-income family with a criminal record. Especially someone would go to jail.’ (page 205) What do you think Armpit should do and take his counsellor’s advice and sets himself ‘small steps’ (page 4). why? What do you think of what he chose to do? stuck with the name, "Armpit."’ He felt that Stanley and Zero had been What do you think of his five goals? Do they seem small to you? How ‘left in a good place’ at the end of Holes and that any problems they successful is he at achieving them? · Did you guess what Jerome had planned for Kaira, and if so at what were likely to encounter would be ‘less interesting than those faced by point did you guess? How does Sachar build suspense in the novel? someone like Armpit.’ In choosing Armpit’s more challenging circum- · Armpit’s counsellor tells him that ‘the recidivism rate for African- · What did you think of the ending? How have Armpit’s ‘small steps’ stances Sachar succeeds in sensitively exploring the issue of racial American boys [is] seventy-three percent.’ (page 4). Why do you think changed since the beginning of the novel? prejudice and the difficulties of keeping to the straight and narrow that it’s so high? within the framework of a page-turning thriller written with wit and · A friendship between a ten-year-old white girl and a seventeen-year- · How does Sachar use song lyrics to develop the story? humour. old African American boy may seem an unlikely one. What is the foun- · Armpit and X-Ray are both characters from Louis Sachar’s previous Sachar balances the difficulties of Armpit’s life with those of what dation of the deep bond between Ginny and Armpit? How do they help novel Holes. If you have already read Holes how did you feel that each other? might at first appear to be a life of privilege in Kaira, a teenage rock Sachar developed these two characters in Small Steps? Were there star and an icon for her generation. His portrayal of Kaira as lonely, · X-ray tells Armpit that his ‘business proposition’ isn’t illegal (page 8), other characters that you would have liked to see from Holes and if so unconfident and exploited may seem a surprising one for some readers but is it moral? who and why? but, as he has explained, ‘The media tends to portray the teenage world as one where drinking and sex is taken for granted. In fact, I think most · ‘Nobody makes real music anymore. It’s all just a big show.’ (page teenagers don't drink, are unsure of themselves, and feel awkward 70). What do you make of Billy Goat’s assertion? Which way of making around members of the opposite sex. I thought it was important to show music does Kaira prefer? Kaira, a rock star no less, as such a person. Her situation, in many · What kind of life does Kaira have? How does it compare to your own i RESOURCES ways, is made more difficult as she has no social contact with anyone idea of fame? her age. She is trapped in a world of agents, record producers, and www.bloomsbury.com/louissachar · Why does Armpit allow X-Ray to persuade him into agreeing to things hanger-ons.’ www.louissachar.co.uk that are against his better judgement? How would you describe their www.louissachar.com Sachar is notoriously taciturn about his writing when he begins a new friendship? Interview by Random House (US Publisher) book. He spent two years writing Small Steps, showing no one, not even · ‘Matt backed up against a row of lockers as he took his wallet out of his wife and daughter, what he was working on, although they were the www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors his back pocket. “Uh, sure. Here.” He held out a dollar, but it dropped Teacher’s guide to Small Steps by Random House first to read it when it was finished. He writes for around two hours out of his hand before Armpit could take it.’ (page 84) Why do so every day, in ‘small steps’, as he has called it, explaining that ‘Every www.randomhouse.com.