Books about Delinquency from Amazon.com

Check out the Holes tour with Louis Sachar!
Monday, October 20th, 7:00 p.m. Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL
Tuesday, October 21st, 7:00 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Skokie, IL
Wednesday, October 22nd, 7:00 p.m., Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop, Brookfield, WI
Thursday, October 23rd, 7:00 p.m., Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, MN
Friday, October 24th, 7:00 p.m. Wayzata Community Church, Wayzata, MN
Monday, October 27th, 7:00 p.m., Tattered Cover Bookstore, Highlands Ranch, CO
Tuesday, October 28th, 7:00 p.m., Borders, Aurora, CO


Stanley Yelnats tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment–and redemption..
Price: $2.76 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In 1984, this groundbreaking book presented a chilling profile of the criminal mind that shattered long-held myths about the sources of and cures for crime. Now, with the benefit of twenty years' worth of additional knowledge and insight, Stanton Samenow offers a completely updated edition of his classic work, including fresh perceptions into crimes in the spotlight today, from stalking and domestic violence to white-collar crime and political terrorism.

Dr. Samenow's three decades of working with criminals have reaffirmed his argument that factors such as poverty, divorce, and media violence do not cause criminality. Rather, as Samenow documents here, all criminals share a particular mind-set--often evident in childhood--that is disturbingly different from that of a responsible citizen.

While new types of crime have grown more prevalent, or at least more visible to the public eye--from spousal abuse to school shootings--little has changed in terms of our approach to dealing with crime. Rehabilitation programs based on the assumption that society is more to blame for crime than the criminal, an assumption for which a causal link has yet to be established, have proved to be grossly inadequate. Crime continues to invade every aspect of our lives, criminal court dockets and prisons are oppressively overcrowded and expensive, and recidivism rates continue to escalate.

To embark on a truly corrective program, we must begin with the clear understanding that the criminal chooses crime; he chooses to reject society long before society rejects him. The criminal values people only to the extent that he can use them for his own self-serving ends; he does not justify his actions to himself. Only by "habilitating" the criminal, so that he sees himself realistically and develops responsible patterns of thought, can we change his behavior.

It is vital that we know who the criminal is and how and why he acts differently from responsible citizens. From that understanding can come reasonable, compassionate, and effective solutions..
Price: $14.43 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Before you can be a champion,
you have to be a contender

Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man -- that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.

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Price: $2.32 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.


From the Paperback edition..
Price: $11.53 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Marauding gangs have become a fact of life in the U.S., but where did these violent groups come from, and why are they so appealing to so many youths today? This comprehensive guide provides answers to these questions and more. It will open your eyes to a world few of us know, but most of us fear..
Price: $15.37 [Notify me when price goes down.]

NCJRS abstract: Written in the first person, the author begins his story just before he committed the crime of armed robbery with his accomplice, Zig. At the age of 15 years, Robert Gagnon, the author, walked into a savings and loan bank in Fort Lauderdale on December 19, 1975 and robbed the bank. As he left, the manager attacked him from behind and in the midst of the fight, Gagnon shot and critically injured the manager. After he and his partner were questioned by police, Gagnon took full responsibility for the crime, even adopting the media account of what had occurred, in an effort to save his partner who was an adult. Gagnon writes that he was convinced the State would only sentence him to 1 to 5 years imprisonment, but instead he was sentenced to spend the rest of his natural life in a Florida State prison with a minimum of 3 years before parole. His story of life in confinement begins. He mainly focuses on life with his fellow inmates and the lessons learned from some of the "old convicts." He tells of learning how to take care of himself in the midst of dangerous offenders and of eluding the many "tricks" of law enforcement and corrections officers. Gagnon explains that convicts have different types of personalities and are referred to as "hustlers, dealers, players, and racists," to name a few; everyone is placed in a category. He recalls a prison riot in 1982 and about the lost feeling he had after being released following nearly 10 years in institutional confinement..
Price: $10.17 [Notify me when price goes down.]

When Rufus Henry gets out of work camp for Grand Theft Auto, he has only one place to go— back to Durango Street. Almost right away, he gets on the wrong side of the Gassers, has to join the rival Moors— and starts running for his life. Years ahead of its time, Durango Street, like The Outsiders, shows that gang violence is, sadly, nothing new— and nothing glamorous. "A starkly realistic, convincing, well-written teen novel." — School Library Journal.
Price: $2.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There are no tales like...

Myth-Told Tales

It's a nightmare when master magician Skeeve and Aahz the Pervect fall into Dreamland ..

Massha gets married with something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blew...up.

Bunny turns to Skeeve for help when an inter-dimensional beauty contest turns ugly.

Reality shows were never quite like this. Eligible bachelors vie to win Princess Gloriannamarjolie's hand-if not her heart...

Join Skeeve, Aahz, Massha, Tananda, Bunny, Gleep, the Fairy Godfather, and random myth-ical creatures in eight stories that span the manic MYTH universe. Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye have compiled their favorite tales-and concocted some new ones-for this hilarious collection of myth-adventures....
Price: $3.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Do or Die is the first insider account of teenage gangs--the lives, loves, and battles of children who kill--from the only journalist ever allowed inside this closed and dangerous world.

This is no West Side Story. Welcome to a world where teenagers wear colostomy bags and have scrapbooks filled with funeral invitations; where a young man, after being shot in the chest, drives himself to the hospital; where another youngster, caught in crossfire, uses his girlfriend as a human shield; where teenage gangsters are kidnapped, tortured, and held for six-figure ransoms; where kids hum the latest movie's theme music while killing people. It's a world of clickheads, sherms, bangers, ballers, and mummyheads; a world where the strongest feelings of family come from other gang members; a world where the most potent feelings of self-worth come from murder.

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Price: $5.72 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The passengers aboard the starship Ad Astra spend most of their time on the thousand-year journey to Beta Hydrii within the virtual reality of twentieth-century Earth. There, they can experience nostalgia for the hardship of a life they've since evolved beyond.

But when people inside the virtual reality chamber start to die, engineer Jacob Brewer finds himself face-to-face with a sentient machine obsessed with humanity. It has put itself in charge of the ship. And it wants to talk to Jacob....
Price: $3.89 [Notify me when price goes down.]