It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. You’ve read Holes and seen the movie, and loved them both, so how could the sequel be anything but fantastic?

As it turns out, Small Steps is like a trip to the dentist - it’s slow, painful, and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Small Steps tells the story of Armpit after he comes home from Camp Green Lake. He is shadowed by his past, since everybody expects the worst from a delinquent, though - amazingly - he has transformed from Tough Guy to Mr. Rogers. The only person who sees beyond his reputation is his ten-year-old neighbor Ginny, who has cerebral palsy. But just as Armpit’s life seems to be getting back to normal, X-Ray shows up with a money-making scheme that leads to him meeting the famous Kaira DeLeon.

Kaira is a rising star, but Sachar’s attempt to get into Kaira’s head is unsuccessful. He uses the cliché character of El Genius, the evil manager who can’t wait to get his hands on Kaira’s money; Kaira, of course, is a perky girl who doesn’t see it coming.

After reading Holes, an excellent novel filled with twists and interesting characters, Small Steps is a disappointment. Sachar chooses a dull character to write about, and in an effort to make his book interesting, puts Armpit in a series of events that are not believable. I find it hard to imagine that a teenager who was sentenced for brutally beating someone in a movie theater would spend his free time caring for his neighbor. It’s about as probable as a Crip walking his granny’s French poodle. I also found it odd how Armpit, really a nobody, gets to meet Kaira and become acquainted with her.

Another irritating factor is the way Sachar writes Ginny’s dialogue: “Is-Is-Isn’t th-th-th-is a-an-an-annoying?” We get the point that she stutters! When you write about someone with an accent, you don’t write the whole book saying, “Aye, em uh Rashan!”

It seems that Sachar has lost his zest. The ingredients are wrong and just don’t mix. Sachar has used the recipe from Holes but Small Steps is just half-baked. Dough, anyone?