60 pages • 2 hours read
Louis SacharSmall Steps
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
A car pulls alongside Armpit as he is walking to school carrying Coo for his speech presentation. Three men and two women are in the car, all about 4 years older than Armpit. The driver, an unpleasant guy called Donnell offers Armpit a ride. Armpit politely refuses, but Donnell says, “You know, when a brother offers you a ride […] the right thing to do is accept” (61). After more heckling about school, Coo, and Ginny (who they refer to as “That little white retard” [62]), and after offering Armpit a job, which he politely turns down, they finally leave him alone.
Armpit stands in front of his class and presents a moving speech, nominating Coo for “ruler of the world” (63) because Coo gives Ginny “comfort, courage and confidence” (63). After explaining what cerebral palsy is and the challenges Ginny faces, Armpit ends his speech: “Well, even though Ginny is only ten years old and has cerebral palsy and weighs less than sixty pounds, she’s the strongest and bravest person I know. So if Coo could do that for Ginny, imagine what Coo could do for the world. So vote for Coo. Thanks” (64). Tatiana, a girl in Armpit’s class, approaches him afterward and says she liked his speech. She asks to look at Coo and gives the rabbit a big hug. When X-Ray interrupts them and pulls out a wad of money, Tatiana’s smile drops, and she leaves. X-Ray dramatically counts out $530 and gives it to Armpit, explaining that he sold four tickets that morning. Armpit’s confidence in X-Ray is restored, and he lets the fact that X-Ray “borrowed” $10 out of the sale slide.
Chapter 10 Summary
Kaira DeLeon’s entourage, consisting of six buses and two trucks, makes its way from Baton Rouge to Houston. Kaira, tired of being alone, joins the guys in their bus, rather than ride in the private, luxury bus that her mother insists she use. She knows the guys in the band think she is a spoiled brat, but they let her join in their card game, and they chat about music. They gently tease Kaira because she doesn’t know who Janis Joplin is. The subject of Kaira’s mother comes up, and Billy Goat, the keyboard player, lets slip that Kaira’s stepfather is having an affair with Aileen. Kaira is shocked. Aileen is the tour travel coordinator and has always generously helped Kaira and seems close with Kaira’s mother. Aileen, who always registers Kaira at hotels under the name of old TV characters, is there to meet the bus when they arrive in Houston. Kaira studies Aileen for any sign of betrayal, but Aileen is her usual cheerful self.
Chapter 11 Summary
X-Ray picks Armpit up from school, and together they drive to a restaurant, “Smokestack Lightnin’” (74), to deliver tickets to Murdock, a potential buyer. X-Ray, uncomfortable with meeting a stranger inside, asked Armpit to join him. Murdock turns out to be a Black man with a gray beard and gray hair; he’s kind and honest and owns the restaurant. Before paying for the tickets, Murdock gives Armpit and X-Ray BBQ sandwiches on the house. Armpit is still skeptical, “more concerned about the money than he was about food” (78). Murdock tells them that he is getting the tickets for his daughter, whom he sees only once a month. “I gotta make the most of it” (77), he explains. Murdock gives them $270 and offers the boys a free drink. Armpit feels bad for doubting him.
Chapter 12 Summary
Coo does not win the election, not because Armpit’s speech was bad (it was the best one) but because the students could remember only the last few presentations. When Tatiana approaches Armpit to say she is sorry Coo didn’t win, Armpit suddenly has an idea. He knows there are two tickets left, and since he has already made a profit from the other sales, he invites Tatiana to go to the concert with him. She says yes, that she loves Kaira’s song “Red Alert.” All Armpit can think about during his economics class is that X-Ray might have sold the last two tickets. As soon as class is over, Armpit rushes to call him. He borrows 50 cents from Matt Kapok, “a skinny white guy from his economics class” (83), and calls X-Ray from the payphone. X-Ray has not sold the tickets. Armpit explains about Tatiana and says he’ll pay $135 for them. Laughing, X-Ray points out that the tickets are already his—no need to buy them twice.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
The theme of Discrimination and Inaccurate Assumptions is expanded in this section. For example, the Black occupants of the car that pulls alongside Armpit mock him for going to school and being friends with “[t]hat little white retard” (62); Tatiana walks away when X-Ray pulls out money without knowing how he got it, but likely assuming it was from something illegal; Armpit doubts Murdock’s intention to pay for the tickets simply because Murdock’s restaurant is in a rundown area, with “boarded-up buildings, liquor stores, bars and tattoo parlors” (75); and, Kaira’s band members have judged her as a “spoiled prima donna” (68) before getting to know her because she makes a lot of money (which she never sees) and has security. At school, when Armpit asks his white classmate, Matt, for 50 cents, “Matt backed up against a row of lockers […] held out a dollar, but it dropped out of his hand before Armpit could take it. As Armpit bent down to pick it up, Matt sidestepped him and quickly disappeared around the corner” (84), seemingly feeling threatened by Armpit, who simply asked to borrow change for the phone. Conscious and unconscious bias related to race, income, gender, and disability is addressed throughout the book, with even the most thoughtful characters (such as Armpit) occasionally jumping to the wrong conclusions.
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By Louis Sachar
