Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers Acquires SMALL STEPS, the Sequel to Louis Sachar's Multimillion-Copy Bestseller HOLES

New York, NY (October 28, 2004) - Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, has acquired hardcover and paperback publication rights to a new novel by Louis Sachar titled SMALL STEPS, a sequel to the phenomenally successful HOLES. Beverly Horowitz, Vice President and Publisher of Random House's Bantam, Delacorte and Dell Books for Young Readers imprints, acquired the book from Ellen Levine, Executive Vice President at Trident Media Group; Horowitz will edit the book.

"Holes is a phenomenon that raised the bar for measuring publishing success—and it is all due to the creative genius of Louis Sachar," said Horowitz. "Louis is a uniquely talented writer, and to have his new book on our list is not only an honor but also an enormous opportunity to raise the bar yet again. We're looking forward to making huge leaps with SMALL STEPS."

Holes was copublished in hardcover by Random House and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1998 to wide-reaching critical acclaim and has received numerous awards and honors, including the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award. Holes has spent over 150 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and with 5 million copies sold in the United States and Canada alone, it is one of the bestselling children's books in recent history. The movie Holes, produced by Walden Media and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, enjoyed enormous box office success when it was released in 2003, with a screenplay penned by Sachar himself.  The initial DVD release of Holes was 5 million copies.

In SMALL STEPS, Sachar once again demonstrates his storytelling mastery and signature wit to deliver a deeply satisfying tale. Readers will be reunited with Armpit and X-Ray from Camp Green Lake. It's three years later, and Armpit is taking small steps to turn his life around. Joined by a cast of vibrant new characters, including teen singing sensation Kaira DeLeon, Armpit discovers what it takes to stay on course and learns that doing the right thing is never the wrong choice.

Random House also publishes Sachar's much-loved books for younger readers: There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, The Boy Who Lost His Face, Dogs Don't Tell Jokes, and his highly entertaining Marvin Redpost series.

Random House Children's Books is the world's largest English-language children's trade book publisher. Producing books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books to novels and narrative nonfiction, the imprints of Random House Children's Books offer publishing programs that bring together world-famous franchise characters, multimillion-copy series, and top-flight award-winning authors and illustrators.