Bibliography
Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life. New York: Farrar, Straus And Giroux (Byr), 2002.
Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life. New York: Farrar, Straus And Giroux (Byr), 2002.
Critical Analysis
Jack Gantos recounts events that happened in his life in which ended him up in prison. Desperate for money, he finds a job boating a load of marijuana from the Virgin Islands to New York City. He thinks he will get $10,000 when in actuality it will land him to a six-year prison sentence instead.
This is an oddly-refreshing recollection of Gantos’ criminal life because he does not make excuses for himself or his actions. He takes responsibility for his criminal acts and does not try to rationalize his misbehavior by the many excuses we so commonly hear.
Readers know that Gantos will be going to jail at some point in the book so this is a
suspenseful reading, although it does ramble at times. The rambling is not distracting to
the narrative; instead it somehow keeps the dialog feeling as real as it truly was for
Gantos.
This is a great first autobiography narrative for young adults to begin to gain interest in
this genre. There’s Gantos, a young man ready for adventure, for something to jump-
start his life. This adventure almost ruins him and his future, but thankfully the idea of
going to college and becoming a writer saves him. Gantos writes frankly on his
experiences and critically examines his own life dissecting it piece by piece. Gantos
never lectures to readers. Instead, he writes of his wrong choices, his experiences and
lets the readers travel with him on this dark road, observing it as they wish to see it,
hopefully benefiting from his decisions and learning from them.
Excerpt:
From my cell window I could see a line of houses in the distance. As the months passed, I
watched people celebrate their lives – Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day. In October I watched them put up Halloween decorations. We didn't celebrate Halloween in prison - or, I should say, every day in prison was scarier than any Halloween, so there was no reason to do anything special on October 31st. But thinking of Halloween reminded me of a funny story from when I was in fifth grade. We were living in Kendall, Florida, right on the train tracks. One Halloween afternoon police cars flooded our neighborhood and announced that Halloween was canceled because there had been a prison break upstate at Raford. A couple of guys had hopped a freight and the cops thought they may have jumped off in our area. We locked our doors and turned on all the lights. We pulled the curtains. All night I scampered from window to window peeking out and looking for unshaven suspicious types in striped outfits. Every time a bush rustled in the wind my heart leapt. I saw rugged prison mugs in every shadow. It was the most exciting Halloween ever. The escapees were caught not far from our house and I was
disappointed that I hadn't spotted them slinking around.
[…]I wrote this story down in my prison journal, and it gave me a lot of pleasure to recall my childhood.
(p. 174-5)
Readers know that Gantos will be going to jail at some point in the book so this is a
suspenseful reading, although it does ramble at times. The rambling is not distracting to
the narrative; instead it somehow keeps the dialog feeling as real as it truly was for
Gantos.
This is a great first autobiography narrative for young adults to begin to gain interest in
this genre. There’s Gantos, a young man ready for adventure, for something to jump-
start his life. This adventure almost ruins him and his future, but thankfully the idea of
going to college and becoming a writer saves him. Gantos writes frankly on his
experiences and critically examines his own life dissecting it piece by piece. Gantos
never lectures to readers. Instead, he writes of his wrong choices, his experiences and
lets the readers travel with him on this dark road, observing it as they wish to see it,
hopefully benefiting from his decisions and learning from them.
Excerpt:
From my cell window I could see a line of houses in the distance. As the months passed, I
watched people celebrate their lives – Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day. In October I watched them put up Halloween decorations. We didn't celebrate Halloween in prison - or, I should say, every day in prison was scarier than any Halloween, so there was no reason to do anything special on October 31st. But thinking of Halloween reminded me of a funny story from when I was in fifth grade. We were living in Kendall, Florida, right on the train tracks. One Halloween afternoon police cars flooded our neighborhood and announced that Halloween was canceled because there had been a prison break upstate at Raford. A couple of guys had hopped a freight and the cops thought they may have jumped off in our area. We locked our doors and turned on all the lights. We pulled the curtains. All night I scampered from window to window peeking out and looking for unshaven suspicious types in striped outfits. Every time a bush rustled in the wind my heart leapt. I saw rugged prison mugs in every shadow. It was the most exciting Halloween ever. The escapees were caught not far from our house and I was
disappointed that I hadn't spotted them slinking around.
[…]I wrote this story down in my prison journal, and it gave me a lot of pleasure to recall my childhood.
(p. 174-5)
Practical suggestion
Awards and Honors:
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults
American Library Association Notable Children's Books
Booklist Editors' Choice
Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library
Bulletin Blue Ribbon, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List
Massachusetts Children's Book Award
Michael L. Printz Award - Honor
Parents' Choice Award
Robert F. Sibert Award - Honor
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults
American Library Association Notable Children's Books
Booklist Editors' Choice
Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library
Bulletin Blue Ribbon, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List
Massachusetts Children's Book Award
Michael L. Printz Award - Honor
Parents' Choice Award
Robert F. Sibert Award - Honor
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
Discuss drug awareness and consequences – also as it related to Gantos.
This would be a great autobiography to have young adults write a reader’s response to.
Ask student’s questions like:
While on the boat, Jack said he wasn’t doing anything wrong by smuggling drugs;
he was just afraid of the punishment. He planned to use the $10,000 to pay for
college. Is he justified? Does he feel the same way at the end of the story?
Other Books by Jack Gantos:
The Jack Henry Books
Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade Without a Clue (2003)
Jack on the Tracks: Four Seasons of Fifth Grade (1999)
Jack's Black Book (1999)
Jack's New Power: Stories from a Caribbean Year (1995)
Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade (1994)
The Joey Pigza Books
What Would Joey Do? (2002)
Joey Pigza Loses Control (2000)
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998)
The Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers
Practice Makes Perfect for Rotten Ralph (2002)
Rotten Ralph Helps Out (2001)
Young Adult
Desire Lines (1997)
Other Authors' Memoirs Geared for a Young Adult Audience:
Chris Crutcher, King of the Mild Frontier: an Ill-Advised Autobiography (2003)
Walter Dean Myers, Bad Boy: A Memoir (2002)
Lois Lowry, Looking Back: A Book of Memories (2000)
Madeleine L’Engle, Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life (2001)
External assessments
Publishers Weekly
Knowing that the narrator is destined to land in jail keeps suspense at a high pitch, but this
book's remarkable achievement is the multiple points of view that emerge, as experiences
force a fledgling writer to continually revise his perspective of himself and the world around
him. The book requires a commitment, as it rambles a bit at times, but it provides much
food for thought and fuel for debate. It will leave readers emotionally exhausted and a little
wiser.
School Library Journal
Much of the action in this memoir-some of it quite raw and harsh-will be riveting to teen
readers. However, the book's real strength lies in the window it gives into the mind of an
adolescent without strong family support and living in the easy drug culture of the 1970s.
Gantos looks for role models and guidance in the pages of the books he is reading, and his
drive to be a writer and desire to go to college ultimately save him.
Booklist
Gantos' spare narrative style and straightforward revelation of the truth have, together, a cumulative power that will capture not only a reader's attention but also empathy and imagination. This is great for every aspiring writer and also a wonderful biography for teens struggling to discover their deepest, truest selves.
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