Holes

Title: Holes
Author: Louis Sachar
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374332657

Recommended for Grades 6-10
Genre: Fiction

Reader’s Annotation:
Stanley Yelnats IV has bad luck. Very bad luck. And it just got him arrested.

Plot Summary:
Stanley Yelnats IV and his family have been cursed with bad luck since his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing, great-great grandfather forgot to fulfill a promise he made to a gypsy. The curse catches up to Stanley when a pair of stolen sneakers fall out of the sky and he is arrested for their theft. He is shipped off to the juvenile correction camp, Camp Green Lake. Here he and the other boys must spend their day digging holes in the dried lake bed. The warden of the camp is looking for the treasure of Kissing Kate, an outlaw from the old west who buried her treasure there. When Stanley and his new friend, Zero, attempt to escape the camp, they unwittingly lift the Yelnats curse and change the lives of everyone involved.

Evaluation:
This novel is filled with humor but also serious topics like racism and imprisonment. Teens will enjoy the story while seeing the deeper message.

Notes:
There is a companion novel to Holes called Small Steps.

In 2003 Walt Disney Pictures released a theatrical adaptation of Holes.