In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with a ton of hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners sold the drug until federal agents caught up with them. For his part in the conspiracy, Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison. But once he was locked up in a small, yellow-walled cell, he found inspiration. He moved from wanting to be a writer to writing, and ultimately overcame the worst experience of his life.
Jonathan, Sam, Schulz, and Eric usually spend their summers hanging out at the park, skateboarding and dreaming about the time when theyll finally move out of the suburbs. But in the summer of 1994, the four teenagers find a small fortune hidden inside an abandoned house. What starts out as a blessing soon turns into a curse, however, as stress, drugs, and dwindling funds raise some serious questions about the future. Eighteen years later Jonathan returns to that life-changing summer to tally up the cost of that discovery, exploring how a broken dream led to a totally renewed sense of purpose.
Classroom Connections
Since reading, language arts, and English
curricula often contain overlapping skills
and strategies, this autobiography can be used
in any setting that encourages students to
read and respond to print. Hole in My Life
offers teachers the chance to utilize a text
that is nonfiction in genre yet employs several
of the same techniques used in fiction. Many
state tests rely on nonfiction selections in
their reading component, so this book can
help students read nonfiction effectively.
Additionally, several standards in social
studies may be addressed with this book.
Language Arts /English /Reading Standards:
This guide meets the following standards from
the International Reading Association (IRA)
and the National Council of Teachers of
English (NCTE):
• Students read a wide range of print and nonprint
texts to build an understanding of texts, of
themselves, and of the cultures of the United
States and the world; to acquire new information;
to respond to the needs and demands of society
and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment.
Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction,
classic and contemporary works.
• Students apply a wide range of strategies to
comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate
texts. They draw on their prior experience, their
interactions with other readers and writers, their
knowledge of word meaning and of other texts,
their word identification strategies, and their
understanding of textual features (e.g., soundletter
correspondence, sentence structure,
context, graphics).
• Students apply knowledge of language structure,
language conventions (e.g., spelling and
punctuation), media techniques, figurative
language, and genre to create, critique, and
discuss print and nonprint texts.
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective,
creative, and critical members of a variety of
literacy communities.
• Students use spoken, written, and visual language
to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for
learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the
exchange of information).
Social Studies Standards:
This guide meets the standards of the National
Council for the Social Studies.
• Social studies programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of the
ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship
in a democratic republic.
• Social studies programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of
individual development and identity. Personal
identity is shaped by one's culture, by groups,
and by institutional influences. How do people
learn? Why do people behave as they do? What
influences how people learn, perceive, and
grow? How do people meet their basic needs
in a variety of contexts? Questions such as
these are central to the study of how individuals
develop from youth to adulthood. Examination
of various forms of human behavior enhances
understanding of the relationships among
social norms and emerging personal identities,
the social processes that influence identity
formation, and the ethical principles underlying
individual action.
Pre-Reading Activity
What is the significance of the title? What
could cause a “hole” in someones life? What
do students think the story will be about?
Does the photo of Gantos facing the title
page give any clue as to his identity? What
conclusions about this person could a
reader draw from the photograph alone?
Would the conclusions differ when paired
with the title?
Discussion
n Much of the story is told in flashback. The
opening chapter refers to Gantoss prison
photo and the food in the prison. Then Gantos
reflects on something from his childhood.
This collapsing of settings/time frames could
be confusing without the use of literary
techniques. How does the author signal
whether he is talking about something in
the distant past versus the setting/time
frame of the story?
n Go through the book and make a list of the
titles of each chapter. How does Gantos signal
the reader ahead of time about what will occur
in the chapter? What kinds of clues do the
chapter titles provide?
n As you read through the chapters, keep
a chart of the decisions Gantos made that
culminated in his trip to smuggle drugs. For
instance, in chapter 2, he talks about living on
his own as a teen and wandering through
casinos and drinking. How did these early
actions lead up to the one that changed the
course of his life?
n The story is divided into three sections.
Why do you think the author decided to
separate parts of the story? What important
event occurs in each part?
n In part 1, chapter 4, Gantos refers to On
the Road by Jack Kerouac. Look up a synopsis
of this book, or read an excerpt from its early
chapters. Why do you think Gantos was
enamored of the life described by Kerouac?
What connections do you see between Gantos
and Kerouac?
n “I have learned this: it is not what one
does that is wrong, but what one becomes as
a consequence of it.” How does this quote
from Oscar Wilde (found on the epigraph
page) reflect the major theme of this book?
How does Gantos change as a result of what
he has done wrong? What does he “become”
that might not have happened without his
experiences in prison?
Reaching across the
Curriculum
Social Studies
This story could be used to focus on current
events as they relate to topics such as prisons,
prison life, drugs, drug abuse, drug smuggling.
Students could be placed in groups and
given some choices about possible topics to
explore. After students have had the chance
to complete their research using print and
nonprint materials, their information could be
presented in the form of a traditional report,
a Power Point presentation, or a Web site
designed to provide readers with links to sites
related to the individual topics. Alternatively,
students could research similar topics as they
relate to other countries. What is the prison
system like in Britain or Russia? How does
the criminal justice system in the United
States differ from that of Australia or Japan?
Teachers can tailor these comparisons to
curricular demands.
Additionally, map skills could be a topic
chosen by the students, as they trace the route
sailed by Gantos from the Virgin Islands to
New York.
Reading / Language Arts
Throughout the book, Gantos refers to the
saving power of books and reading. In the
list at right, he identifies books that were
important to him as he worked through his
time in prison. However, he also refers to
reading as something like a drug. Gantos used
books to comfort himself in times of trouble,
to distract him from his problems. How can
reading be both beneficial and detrimental?
Ask students to write in their journals about
this almost schizophrenic approach to books
and reading. Ask them to provide examples
from their own lives that mirror this conflicted
view. Are there other elements in their lives
that are similar? For instance, what about the
positive and negative effects of Internet surfing? Of music? Of television? Etc.
Alternatively, students could be asked to select
one of the books from the list below, read it,
and write about why they think this particular
book was important in Gantoss life.