A HOLE IN MY LIFE by Jack Gantos

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gantos, Jack. 2004. A HOLE IN MY LIFE. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN

9780374430894

PLOT SUMMARY/Critical Analysis

Jack Gantos was looking for adventure and wanted to go to college to be a writer.  He did not have the money and was looking to cash to go to college.  Needing and wanting money extremely bad caused Gantos to make a bad decision.  He was asked to help sail a yacht carrying a ton of hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City.  After arriving in New York City Gantos and his partners began selling the drugs until the federal agents caught them.  Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison for the crimes he committed. 

The book takes the reader through the fifteen months he spent in jail between high school and college.  Because of the mature nature of this book it is meant to be read by mature high school students.  Gantos wants kids to know they can make it through anything even if they have many some bad choices in their lives.  He also wants adults to not give up on the kids and to help them make a better life for themselves. 

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

*SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, May 2002

*BOOKLIST, April 2002

*HORN BOOK, May 2002

*PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, February 2002

*KIRKUS REVIEWS, February 2002

EXEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

*“Counted in.  After breakfast I was counted.  Before dinner I was counted.  After dinner.  Before lights out.  Then while I slept.  And even then I turned that phrase over and over in my mind: “Count me in.”  Those were the words I’d take back if I could.  They were my words to Ken and Hamilton. “Count me in.”  Now I was counted in my cell every day, and I was counted to be there morning, noon, and night.”