Line #9 Literature/SmallSteps


1	[[quoteright:323:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/small_steps_louis_sachar.jpg]]
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3	''Small Steps'' is a [[YoungAdultLiterature young adult novel]] by Creator/LouisSachar. It is a sequel to ''Literature/{{Holes}}'' which follows Theodore ("Armpit") and X-Ray after their release from Camp Green Lake.
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5	Two years later, Armpit is trying to finish passing high school, earn some money, and get his life back on track. X-Ray, however, plans a get-rich-quick scheme with him by scalping tickets. Those tickets, however, are for the concert of Kaira De Leon, a troubled [[IdolSinger teen pop singer]]. Their lives intersect in unexpected ways.
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7	----
8	!!Tropes:
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10	* AdultsAreUseless: Armpit's parents seem unable to believe that their son has become a better person, and sometimes lie to his face while lecturing him. Kaira's mom throws everything to her husband. [[spoiler:The husband tries to kill her.]]
11	* AesopAmnesia: X-Ray was arrested and sent to Camp Green Lake for running a scam selling fake marijuana. He's back to it as soon as he and Armpit are out, roping him into a ticket-scalping scheme. What makes it worse is he gives Armpit a photocopied ticket to use at the concert, which gets the latter beaten up and nearly sent to jail again.
12	* AffablyEvil: Billy Boy, an anonymous person who regularly sends Kaira letters telling he loves her, she's beautiful, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and one day he'll kill her.]] [[spoiler:He turns out to be El Genius.]]
13	* BatmanGambit:
14	** Kaira hates her bodyguard Fred and regularly tries to ditch him. [[spoiler:El Genius had hoped for this, so that he could murder her in secret and not get the blame for it since he was the one who hired Fred.]]
15	** This was also done earlier in the book, as it's revealed the story about how Kaira's tickets sold for $750 in Philadelphia was planted by El Genius to increase demand for them.
16	* BittersweetEnding: Kaira is saved, but [[spoiler:she not only has memory loss but her voice is damaged and she is financially ruined, thanks to her mother's friend stealing all of her money. It is said that she starts singing again, with some difficulty, so there is hope for her to recover her old life.]]
17	* CareerEndingInjury: El Genius used to be a baseball player in the Minor Leagues, until a baseball struck him in the face. This caused him to reflexively shut his eyes when swinging a bat, and he couldn't hit another pitch.
18	* ChekhovsGunman: Kaira's bodyguard whom she calls a doofus. It turns out [[spoiler:he is good at his job and refuses to let El Genius murder her even as she tries to ditch him.]]
19	** Before that, the mayor who Armpit met in the opening scene shows up to stick up for him during the concert when he's accused of forging his ticket and drugging Ginny. (The ticket ''was'' forged, but Armpit was unaware of it.)
20	* ChekhovsSkill: In-universe, Armpit and X-Ray's time at Camp Green Lake helps them get landscaping jobs back home.
21	%%* CoolOldGuy: The drummer who sometimes makes Kaira laugh.
22	%%* CoolOldLady: The mayor
23	* DefrostingIceQueen: To Armpit, Kaira opens up almost instantly, but it takes an entire [[spoiler:murder attempt]] for her to open up to her bodyguard.
24	* DemotedToExtra: All of the Camp Green Lake kids except Armpit and X-Ray. Stanley is mentioned once, and not even by name (apparently he gave Armpit lots of free boxes of ''Sploosh''), and the others don't even get that much.
25	* DisabilitySuperpower: Ginny has cerebral palsy, and is implied to be good at math. Each of her stuffed animals are also disabled, with some kind of hidden talent.
26	* DisproportionateRetribution: Armpit got into Camp Green Lake because he beat up a group of boys who tripped him and made him spill his popcorn.
27	* DudeNotFunny: InUniverse. El Genius jokes about [[spoiler:how Ginny went into a seizure, causing the cops to think Armpit had given her drugs.]] Kaira hates this, and personally requests to see them.
28	* EverybodyKnewAlready: [[spoiler:Debbie finds out Armpit was one of the ticket scalpers, but doesn't arrest for it because "As I said, case closed."]]
29	* FlippingTheBird: A jogger does this to X-Ray after he flirts with her from his van.
30	* GenreShift: ''Small Steps'' is much more rooted in reality than ''Holes'', being about ticket scalping and abusive music managers rather than curses and lost cowboy treasure.
31	* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: Kaira does enjoy performing, but resents not having much time to herself and no real friends. Not helping is her step-father controlling her life and career, and keeping her isolated.
32	* HeroicResolve: In the climax, [[spoiler:Fred gets a knife to his side, and Armpit's arm is broken after El Genius ambushes him with a baseball bat. Fred, while {{playing possum}}, manages to trip El Genius, allowing Armpit to get the upper hand and beat him unconscious with his one good arm.]]
33	* HiddenDepths: Of all the characters of ''Holes'', did you really think ''Armpit'' would be the kind, thoughtful one? The movie actually implies it, by giving Squid/Alan's lines at the end to him (in which [[spoiler:he gives Stanley a phone number and tells him to call his mother and tell her he's sorry for something]]).
34	* IdiotBall: Kaira, instead of keeping her mouth shut, tells El Genius that the minute she is eighteen, he is fired as her manager. [[spoiler:El Genius may have tried to kill her anyway, but he has a greater incentive.]]
35	* IHaveThisFriend: Played with. Kaira thinks Armpit is doing this when he attempts to explain the situation. Armpit tells her that "his friend" (meaning X-Ray) was the ticket scalper, and she angrily asks him something like "was it you who kissed me earlier, or your ''friend''?"
36	* ILied: Armpit only agreed to X-Ray's scheme to get him off his back and asks to keep some of the tickets so he can take Ginny to Kaira's concert. The tickets that X-Ray gave him were photocopied rather than the real deal. Armpit is not amused when he nearly gets arrested and Ginny has a seizure. X-Ray is unrepentant.
37	* INeverToldYouMyName: Armpit is confused to hear Kaira sing "Oh, you'd never guess, Armpit, [I'm a] damsel in distress." [[spoiler:It's actually a {{mondegreen}} saying "I'm but". Kaira actually sings his version later.]]
38	* InnocentInnuendo:
39	-->'''Armpit:''' Did you tell her my nickname?\
40	'''Ginny:''' I just told her it was a part of the body.
41	* InsistentTerminology: X-Ray insists that "X-Ray" isn't his nickname, [[PigLatin it's actually his name in another language.]]
42	* {{Irony}}: Armpit's new job after leaving Camp Green Lake? Digging holes. (Well, technically trenches, but...)
43	* {{Jerkass}}: X-Ray has clearly learned ''nothing'' from his experiences at Green Lake.
44	%%** And El Genius.
45	* KnowNothingKnowItAll: El Genius. Kaira points out to him the parallel with her name and UsefulNotes/JuanPonceDeLeon, but he's never heard of him. [[spoiler:He turns out to be smarter about committing murder.]]
46	* MoralityPet: Ginny to Armpit. Also counts as a sort of LittlestCancerPatient.
47	* NamedAfterTheInjury: The book reveals that Armpit got his nickname after getting stung by a scorpion, and the pain eventually settled in his armpit.
48	* NearVillainVictory: [[spoiler:El Genius almost murders Kaira, but gets foiled by Armpit's last-minute interruption. His partner-in-crime and fellow tour manager, Aileen, embezzles all of Kaira's savings and runs off to Belize with a fake identity, only to end up arrested anyway. However, the money is never recovered.]]
49	* OneSteveLimit: Enforced. Kaira's real name is Kathy Spears, but she performs under a stage name because Music/{{Britney\|Spears}} already took that surname.
50	* OrgyOfEvidence: Backfires [[spoiler:when El Genius tries to frame Armpit for his attempted murder of Kaira, when he leaves some of Armpit's possessions at the crime scene, and uses a baseball bat with Armpit's fingerprints on it. X-Ray lampshades how the FrameUp was too obvious, since Armpit couldn't possibly bring a baseball bat to the hotel without anyone noticing it]].
51	* PoliceBrutality: Security officers at the concert beat up and handcuff Armpit for having photocopied tickets instead of questioning him first. Then accuse him of drugging Ginny when she has a seizure.
52	* ProperlyParanoid: Kaira believes [[spoiler:her stepdad was sending the death threat letters. He was. And tries to kill her.]]
53	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Debbie; she knows that [[spoiler:Armpit and X-Ray were the ticket scalpers. She refuses to prosecute them because Armpit suffered punishment enough by inadvertently arriving at the concert with phony tickets and then nearly getting framed for murder. Plus, El Genius was the one who was encouraging scalpers by making up stories about how popular Kaira is and he's already in jail now]].
54	%% ** Armpit's boss, and the Mayor
55	* ShadyScalper: Armpit once gets roped into his friend X-Ray's scheme to scalp concert tickets. %% they run into an gang that specializes in this
56	%%* TheStoic: Kaira's bodyguard, Fred.
57	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Kaira does have a therapist, but doesn't trust her because El Genius was the one who hired her.
58	* TitleDrop: "Small steps" is Armpit's motto to rebuilding his life, as well as Ginny's recovery. [[spoiler:It ends up being the title of Kaira's new song.]]
59	* UnfortunateNames:
60	** "El Genius", Kaira's stepfather, real name being Jerome Paisley. Kaira also nicknames her bodyguard "Doofus".
61	** One of Armpit's goals is to try to lose his nickname.
62	* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"Should I sign [your cast] 'Theodore' or 'Armpit'?"]] Subverted with the next line. [[spoiler:"As I said, case closed."]]

Context Literature / SmallSteps