Holes

Title: “Holes”

Author: Louis Sachar                                     

Genre: Adventure/Fiction                                                           

Publisher: Straus and Giroux

Copyright Date: 1998

Pages in Book: 233 pages

Reading Level: 3-6 grade

Summary: Stanley Yelnats is a young boy who always seems to get himself caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is wrongly accused of stealing Clyde Livingston’s shoes, and as punishment is sent to Camp Green Lake for 18 months. Once he’s there, he and the other young boys are forced to dig holes all day to “build their character”. They soon learn that the warden isn’t out to help the boys build character, but to find buried treasure from years past. While digging, Stanley (aka Caveman) finds a lipstick tube with the initials “KB” on it, the initials belonging to an outlaw (once school teacher) Kissin’ Kate Barlow. There are two stories also being told in the middle of the book. One is about the curse of Stanley’s great great grandfather.  Because of a curse that his great great grandfather brought onto the family, by not carrying Madame Zeroni up the mountain, all the men have been cursed. The other story that is being told is of Miss Katherine, and her love Sam. Sam was killed because the town disapproved of inertial relationships. Kate steals Yelnats fortune and leaves him in the desert. Years later she returns to Green Lake, and instead of telling Trout where she hid the treasure, she takes a bite from a yellow spotted lizard. Trout’s decedents build up Camp Green Lake for little boys so that they could quicken the treasure search. Stanley’s friend Zero decides to run away, and the next day he runs after him. He finds him in the middle of the desert in a row boat. Stanley carries Zero up the mountain, where the find underground water and a field of unions. They go back to Camp Green Lake to find Kissin’ Kate Barlow’s treasure. They find the treasure inside a suitcase, but as soon as they find it the Warden comes, trying to persuade the boys to give it to him. Low and behold, Stanley’s last name is on the suitcase, giving him full claim of it. The boys’ lawyer comes up, and takes Stanley out of the camp and their able to buy a new house, and Zero is able to find his mother. They realize that Zero is a decedent of Madame Zeroni, and the bad curse is lifted.

  

Reaction: I thought this was an incredible book. It caught my attention from the very beginning. And what I liked about it, was that it was actually a little bit different than the movie, so you had to read closely to what was happening.  Overall, I was very impressed with it.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to any child, from the third grade on up. I think any child would be content with this book, and would be able to follow along, and truly enjoy it. There are some tough words, so I would make sure that the child is up on their reading level.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: The only problem that I might have with this book is the difficulty of words in it. Some 8 and 9 year olds might not be able to understand what is being said just by the complexity of the words.