Book I Learned From

                This blog topic is about what one book has benefited me the most. I don’t think that any book has really benefited me in a large way. I can’t think of any way that a book has benefited be besides the fact that it may have taught me some new vocabulary words I did not know before, or taught me different styles of writing or slang or something like that. It may have taught me grammar or about persuasive writing. It probably has taught me different methods of effective writing. No story in a book has really taught me about morals or a life lesson or anything really important. I learn those things outside of books in real life situations or from people, like my family.

                If I had to choose one book though that has benefitted me the most, besides from books I read inside of school, I would choose my favorite book, which is entitled Small Steps. This book is the less-known sequel to the book and movie Holes. This is a really well known story of a group of kids that have committed crimes and have been sent to a camp in the middle of the desert to dig holes and build character. These delinquent children dug holes everyday, unknowingly searching for a treasure that was left there many years ago. The sequel of the book holes, which is Small Steps, my favorite book, is about some of the kids that have finally gotten out of the camp and are trying to rebuild their lives one step at a time. It is specifically about a boy nicknamed “Armpit” as he tries to do good and get an education for all the years he missed out on while he was digging holes in camp. He tries to stay out of trouble in every way, and have a nice normal life at home, but then an old friend from camp is also out, but not trying to rebuild his life as well as Armpit. He is not really trying to stay out of trouble and finds a business in illegally scalping tickets and selling them for a lot of quick cash. This boy, named nicknamed X-Ray drags Armpit into his business and gets him in trouble too. Armpit didn’t want to join and help him, but eventually because he was greedy and needed money, got dragged and involved in the whole mess. His efforts of rebuilding his life hit some hard obstacles but eventually, at the end of the book he succeeds in this.

                This book has taught me to be like Armpit and slowly go up step by step. To be successful in life, is to take small steps toward a set goal and to not be greedy. If you are greedy you might take too big of a step and slip and fall down, getting pushed down back to the bottom of the river. This is just like when Armpit got greedy for some cash and got dragged into the business and all the way back down the river. In the book, there is the metaphor of taking small steps up a river and taking small steps in life. Find stable rocks and foundations to step on that aren’t too far away (goals) and go for them, step by step. Plan your every move before you do it so you don’t fall. And to get to the top, you can’t take big risky steps to loose rocks, like in real life. You can’t take such big, risky steps if you can’t afford to fail and start over.