Themes

CHANGE:

In the book Small Steps Armpit is trying to change his life by taking small steps. 1. Graduate from High school 2. Get a job 3. Save money 4. Avoid going to jail 5. Lose the name Armpit. He tried to change his life because hi parents didn't trust him.

DECEIT:

Armpit and X-ray both lied to Detective Newberg, however if they hadn't they might have gone to jail. So you could argue that X-ray and Armpit did the right thing. Also El Genius deceived Kaira's Mom by cheating on her.

LOVE:

Armpit went to a concert were he met Kaira and later fell in love with her. They started a relationship together and agreed to go to San Francisco together. However everything goes wrong from that point.

Book Review

Small Steps
Louis Sachar
Reviewed by: Matt Hansen
Rating: @@@@@( 5 out of 5)





We have just finished reading a book that the class really enjoyed. The book "Small Steps" is about a seventeen year old boy named Armpit who prefers to be called his real name, Theodore. In this story Theodore and his friend X-ray from Camp Green Lake get into trouble by ticket scalping. Another character is Ginny a ten year old girl who has a disease called Cerebral Palsy. All the kids at school would call her names like cluts, but she had support from Theodore. Anyway an overview of this story is that all the characters are taking small steps. Like Kaira a seventeen year old pop star who writes really meaningful songs. This is a good example of a story that has two separate storeys that come together. For example Kaira's life and Theodore's life come together as their relationship begins. Theodore meets Kaira when they show up at the concert with counterfeit tickets. Then the story gets very exciting, after that point. However, I cant tell you the rest you'll have to read it for your self.



When we first started to read this book I thought it might be another book that I would want to stop reading half way through. However, I ended up loving this book and it made me read ahead. My favorite part about this book is that the characters are really descriptive. You could get a feel for what the characters are feeling. This book has plenty of conflict and a great ending. It makes you want to read the sequel, if there was one. I like how Louis Sachar wrote about real life situations and real characters. Small Steps is a book that starts out with wonderful description and ends with an exciting finish.

I would recommend this book to people who like nonfiction and real life situations. Also, if you are below nine years old you wouldn't get as much out of the book as a higher aged student would. I like this book mostly because of the conflict, and how it keeps getting worse as the story moves on. I would also recommend Small Steps to anyone who likes action. Even though the title sounds boring, it is an action filled book with a outstanding plot, characters, and conflict. I would definitely recommend this book.

Dudes and Dudets look!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My POLL is at the bottom please vote!

a music star

Well actually even though I like music it would probably get boring after the thousandth show!
But after reading that book I became more aware about the penalties you pay to be a famous musician. So I'm going to have to go with no for my answer.

Song Lyrics

In the book Small steps some of the lyrics are:
My shoes, my jewels, my dress a perfect picture of
success, you would never guess ...
At this part Theodore thinks the lyrics go.. Armpit, a damsel in distress.
This relates to the book because Kaira really is a damsel in distress, and Armpit begins to like Kaira. So I figured out that almost all of Kaira's lyrics are related to this book. Kaira is a damsel in distress because she is getting controlled by El Genius. He is causing her to rely on him. She needs help getting out of his controll. Also her money is getting stolen by her mom and her step father.

Questions for Armpit

1. How did it feel to see your friend get interviewed by the police?,Why?
2. How does it feel to be a rockstars boyfriend?
3. How do you feel about detective Newberg?
4. Were you glad about taking Ginny to the concert instead of Tatiana?,Why?
5. Why did you decide to do bussiness with X-ray?

Police station

Armpit was nervous about going but he got a lot more nervous when X-ray was being interviewed. Then the police officer was asking interrogate questions. Armpit was scared because X-ray might have gone to jail. To make it even worse the officer knew that he was lying a little bit.