Hole in My Life

How do you tell your young readers that your writing career began in prison? If you're Jack Gantos, Newbery Honor winner and two-time Earphones Award winner, you have the trust of your readers and listeners to tell it straight. Some listeners may desire more emotional expression in Gantos's description of the "hole in his life" that led him to make his fateful error. However, the target audience, readers ages 13-17, will appreciate the simplicity of Gantos's storytelling. The reading portrays not the drama of a fictional character caught in a drug-smuggling operation, but the straightforward story of a regular kid tempted by an easy solution. K.C. Winner of 2004 ALA/ YALSA Recording (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Starred review from August 23, 2004
"Gantos uses the same bold honesty found in his fiction to offer a riveting autobiographical account of his teen years ," PW
said. "It will leave readers emotionally exhausted and a little wiser." Ages 12-up.