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1-Page Summary of Small Steps
Overall Summary
Small Steps is a 2006 young adult novel by American author Louis Sachar. It’s the sequel to his Newbery Award-winning novel, Holes. The main character in Small Steps is Theodore “Armpit” Johnson, who was briefly mentioned in Holes and starred as one of the supporting characters there. He’s trying to stay out of trouble after getting out of Camp Green Lake, where he was sent for stealing sneakers that were later found with holes in them (hence the title). However, another former inmate named Rex “X-Ray” Washburn threatens Armpit into pulling him back into crime again. ”Small Steps” also focuses on how people get pulled back into prison and why they return there when they’re released from it.
The novel begins in Austin, Texas. Theodore “Armpit” Johnson has just been released from Camp Green Lake after being there for two years and is now living with a disabled girl named Ginny McDonald. He works at the Mayor’s house as a gardener, but he gets involved in Rex “X-Ray” Washburn’s ticket scalping scheme to get more money. However, his plans go awry when Tatiana turns him down because of what she heard about his past. Armpit decides to take Ginny instead and they have an awful time at the concert due to their fake tickets getting discovered and Armpit getting beat up by security guards who think that he stole them from X-Ray (which was actually true). The Mayor saves them both and Kaira Deleon invites them backstage where they meet her for ice cream afterwards. She asks him what his nickname is but can’t figure it out: “Theodore? Tote? Teddy?” He tells her that people call him ‘Armpit’. They become friends over breakfast at the Four Seasons hotel even though Kaira doesn’t know how old he really is: 15 or 16 maybe 17
The next day, Armpit confronts X-Ray about the fake tickets. X-Ray reveals he knew they were fake and sold the real ones to a buyer. He gives Armpit extra money to make peace with him. A few days later, Kaira sends him a love letter in response to his note. Later, Detective Debbie Newberg of the police department questions him about counterfeit tickets and asks who did it if not them. Armpit invents an alibi for himself and X-Ray by saying that someone else must have done it since they didn’t do it themselves. She invites both of them to San Francisco but is confronted by Felix and Moses (ticket sellers). They beat up X-Ray for selling their tickets instead of using them himself like he promised before hand (to impress Kaira). They blackmail both of them into giving back all their money or else they’ll turn them in for counterfeiting charges. The two men give up everything including Kaira’s love letter she had sent earlier telling her feelings about how much she liked Armpit as well as the original ticket stubs from when he got on board with her at first place originally before all this drama happened between all three parties involved in this whole mess which ultimately led up to where things are now currently left off at present time during this story arc chapter so far.
After agreeing to the deal, Armpit meets Kaira in San Francisco. He tries to explain that he has to sell her love letter, but she thinks he’s only interested in her for money. She throws coffee on him and stomps off. However, they don’t know that Jerome Paisley (Kaira’s manager) is trying to kill her before she turns eighteen because he wants all of the money from her trust fund. He sees Armpit as a patsy who will take the blame for killing Kaira. He attacks Kaira with a bat with Armpit’s fingerprints on it after showing it to him earlier and leaves her badly injured. Although Fred saves them both by shooting Jerome, doctors aren’t sure if Kaira will be able to sing again due to injuries sustained during the attack and Aileen (her mother’s friend) raided their bank account using forged checks which were never found by police when they arrested Aileen for fraud. Despite this setback, Armpit vows not give up his plan of making better life choices one step at a time.
