The Trouble in Me

Gantos reflects on his early teenage years, a key period of time that led him down the life of crime and prison he captured in his previous memoir, Hole in My Life. This book recounts a two-week period when the author was 14 years old and first started hanging out with Gary Pagoda, a notorious juvenile delinquent in the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood where Gantos and his family lived. Gantos provides the voice in the audio edition to the detriment of his story: his focus throughout is on the enunciation of the words rather than the emotional components of the story. He seems too intent on getting the words right. As a result, his performance falls flat and never allows the listener to settle in and get absorbed into the story. Ages 12–up. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover. (Sept.)