Book Review: Hole in My Life

When award-winning children's book author Jack Gantos was a teenager, all he wanted to was to write, but he didn't know how to start. He didn't think his life was interesting enough, and worse, he was living with his father in the riot-torn Virgin Islands, building crates for people who wanted to move away to safety and not making any money for college. So when a drug smuggler offered him a deal - ten thousand dollars to help sail a boat filled with two thousand pounds of hash to New York - Gantos thought it was his ticket out of misery.

Hole in My Life is Gantos' memoir of the worst mistakes he ever made, his badly spent youth, his decision to smuggle the drugs, his time spent in federal prison. But the biggest mistake might have been his own self-doubt and lack of confidence as a writer, and prison time is the only thing that helps him conquer it. Gantos doesn't shy away from the darkest facts, writing with a clear and surprisingly humorous voice that makes this memoir a fascinating read. Gantos is best known for the Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza books, as well as the Newbery winner Dead End in Norvelt. -Michelle (Sunset)