Holes

Holes

Sachar, L. (1998). Holes. NY: Scholastic.

What student, child, or adult has not had bad luck? Feeling down and out about the evens in your life can sometimes feel that the world is working against you and giving you bad luck! The same is happening for Stanley Yelnats in Louis Sachar’s book Holes. While reading this book I felt like I was there at Camp Green Lake feeling like this would be just my luck and blame it on someone else. The story’s setting is not what you think “Camp Green Lake” sounds like it would be. It is a dusty hot place where juvenile boys dig holes each day to build “character”, but is actually digging for something else. It is very easy to get pulled into this book and root for the boys at the camp. Stanley slowly starts to make friends and one in particular, Zero, begin a friendship that will either save them or leave them to die in their escape. (I do not want to give away any endings or information) The book is an easy read and most students have seen the movie. I think hearing the book without the pictures still is great to hear aloud, because the author makes the actions and feelings feel so real that it is very easy to create the “movie” in your head. The characters are incredibly believable and relatable for students and adults. I have students now that sometimes feel that something bad always happens to them and they have bad luck, whereas others feel on top of the world.

Big Questions:

Have you ever felt that you have been cursed and left with only bad luck?

Would you be brave enough to runaway from camp like Zero and Stanley did?