Holes

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Summary: Holes has Literary Merit
Review: Holes is a book with great literary merit. Sachar uses subtle humor to weave a story that entertains the reader and keeps their interest in the details. It is ironic that Stanley Yelnats is falsely accused of stealing Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston's sneakers that were donated to help raise money for a homeless shelter, while his father spends his days trying to invent a way to recycle old sneakers. As punishment Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake. Later in the story we find out it was Zero, another boy at the camp, who had stolen the sneakers. He put them on a car and they fell from an overpass and hit Stanley on the head. This is certainly an odd but believable explanation. The rest of the characters we meet are all believable. The group of boys at the camp with Stanley all have nicknames such as Zero, X-Ray, Armpit, and Magnet. The boys call their counselor, Mr. Pendanski, Mom because he has a fat heart. The nicknames all have something to do with each character's uniqueness. "You know why his name's Zero?" "Because there's nothing inside his head." The boys dig holes 5 feet deep, and 5 feet wide every day. The shovels are 5 feet long and the boys use their shovels to measure the holes. X-Ray always uses his own special shovel that he claims is shorter than the others although if it is shorter it is only by a quarter of an inch.
The plot asks a subtle but major dramatic question. Before Stanley begins to dig holes, Mr. Pendanski tells him if he finds anything interesting or unusual he should report it. "What are we supposed to be looking for?" Stanley asked him. "You're not looking for anything. You're digging to build character. It's just if you find anything, the warden would like to know about it." The reader cares about what they might find and needs to read on to find out.
Sachar uses precise descriptive vocabulary when he describes the "wreck room" where the boys spend their free time. He writes, "Nearly everything in the room was broken; the TV, the pinball machine, the furniture. Even the people looked broken, with their worn-out bodies sprawled over the various chairs and sofas." The reader gets a clear picture of where the boys spend their leisure time.
While telling us Stanley's story the author also uses flashback style to tell us the story of Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather" and the curse. The other story we learn about is that of Kissing Kate and what the Warden is looking for in the holes. Sachar puts all three of these stories together for us like a jigsaw puzzle. Even young readers will have no trouble following this writing style.
A major theme that runs through the book is the curse that Stanley's family is plagued by. At the end of the story mostly everything falls into place. Stanley's mother insists there never was a curse but there sure are a lot of interesting coincidences. The reader is left to read in between the lines and fill in the holes for themselves.
This book would best be suited for grades 4-8. As an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to my friends. I would want to read this book a loud to students in grades 4 and 5. I would discuss the desert, desert life, and desert animals. The book takes place in Texas, therefore we would study about Texas. As I read a loud, I would ask the students to make predictions about what they think will happen next.
In grades 6 - 8 , I would focus on topics such as juvenile detention, adolescent friendships, homelessness and self-esteem.
All audiences that read Holes will find it both funny and moving. I recommend everyone grade 4 and above read Holes.

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Summary: Holes Review
Review: Holes is a commonly read book. The main character, Stanely Yelnats[ which is Stanely spelled back wards]is sent to "Camp Green Lake" for supposedly stealing some valuable baseball shoes. While there he faces tough circumstances. Such as learning how to deal with different people [when he met the other boys at his Detention Camp], and learning how to deal with life when it's it its worst. Dealing with problems is much better than letting them take you down with them.

Stanely is not the only one that is picked on... "Zero" is also learning some crucial life lessons, Such as letting someone else pay for your crimes. One day while at lunch Stanelys campmates and Stanely are discussing what crime(s) resulted in them at going to Camp Green Lake, when Stanely telles them that he was there becaues of some shoes that "dropped from the sky", when Zero asked if they had red X's on them [Zero never talked before at the camp to the boys and was made fun of by being called stupid]. Stanely responds yes. Then later in the book Zero telles Stanely that he panicked when he heard the police coming and threw them over from the highway as he was walking in a desperate attempt to be innocent. Stanely and Zero were the best of friends and [Zero] was adopted into Stanely's family when he was released.

Holes has different impacts on peoples lives

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Summary: Holes Critique
Review: Holes is a cool book. It's very interesting to read because there's lots of cool characters and they are the best.

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Summary: Holes is a Must-Read!
Review: Holes is a deeply compassionate story of a young boy, Stanley, who is wrongly convicted of a crime he didn't commit. Given the choice of jail or a year at Camp Green Lake, Stanley chose the camp. What he found at the camp was nothing he had ever imagined. This story tells of the history of Camp Green Lake as Stanley slowly learns the real reason for their digging. This book is incredibly unique and creative. It delves into the life of this young boy who is taken from his normal life and thrust into a new one.

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Summary: A really great read!
Review: Holes is a exellent book for people who like a little mystery and a little adventure. Back to the point, Holes is a book about a boy named Stanley Yelnats. His family is very poor(his name is spelled the same front and back).He is acused of stealing shoes and given a choice between jail and a place called Camp Green Lake. Of course he picks Green Lake. At Camp Green Lake, Stanley makes friends he never had. All the kids have wierd nicknames like Caveman, Armpit, Zig Zag, Zero and some more.

During his stay at Camp Green Lake, Stanley finds something that belonged to an outlaw, the same outlaw that robbed his family a hundred years ago. This makes his family very rich and the family of his new found best friend, also.

The book has a great and unexpected ending. It has recently been made into a movie and I can't wait to see it.

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Summary: Holes is the *BEST*
Review: Holes is a fantastic book! THe details really makes you feel like you are there. THe idea that it has two stories going on at the same time..LOVE IT! I t makes you laugh ,cry and enjoy it!

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Summary: A Hole in the Ground is okay but a Hole in my Bagel is Worse
Review: Holes is a fantastic book. Satnley is under a curse because of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. A pair of shoes fall from the sky and Stanley picks them up. The shoes were Clyde Livingston's shoes. He was not innocent and had to go to jail or Camp Green Lake.He built good character by learning what he did wrong. This book was very funny, clever, interesting, and exciting. A lot of symbols were used to represent objects like nicknames. I didn't like the book because there wasn't much said after the kids left camp.Other than that the book was great.

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Summary: Holes is a fantastic and creative novel.
Review: Holes is a fantastic story of a boy's journey through a juvenile delinquent camp, and through life. In this novel, which is in someways similar Rob Reiner's Stand By Me, you find yourself struggling along with the antagonist, Stanley Yelnats. This is truly a great story. If everybody read it they might be a little better off in life.

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Summary: 3 generations loved the book!
Review: HOLES is a fine work of art - not just a really interesting story.

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Summary: Holes is one of the best books I have every read!
Review: Holes is a first-rate novel that keeps you reading until the last page. Stanley Yelnats is a teenage boy who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is all because of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealin-great-great-grandfather, who, a while back, disappointed the wrong lady. Stanley is mistaken for taking a pair of shoes (not just any ordinary shoes) from a homeless shelter. After pleading his innocence to the judge, he is thought to be disturbed, and gets a choice to go to jail, or to Camp Green Lake. He takes the offer to go to camp, thinking anyhting called Camp Green Lake cant be that bad, but once he gets there he finds out he was terribly wrong. First of all, there is no lake. Second, he learns of deadly lizards that will kill you if they bite you. Always. He has to dig a hole every day that is five feet deep, and five feet in diameter. He is told the digging is to build character, but as mysterious objects are found that the Warden seems very interested in, Stanley starts to believe there is an even bigger reason. He may even be able to break his family curse.