Holes

Holes
By: Louis Sachar
Copyright: 2000
Pages: 272
Reading Level: 9-12

"'Oh Sam' she said.'My heart is breaking.'
'I can fix that' said Sam."

Holes is the story of Stanley Yelnats (yes his first name is his last spelled backwards.) The story starts by telling us about Camp Green Lake, and then how Stanley got there. Camp Green Lake, is a very deceiving name, as it has no lake, and no green. Stanley gets sent to camp Green Lake, for stealing a pair of shoes. However he didn't actually steal the shoes, they feel and hit him on the head. Once Stanley gets to camp, he is given the name of "Caveman" and is suddenly treated like one of the guys. The reason the title of this book is Holes, is because at Camp Green Lake that is what they do. They did holes, to "build character". While the story of Stanley is being told, a second story, a love story, is being told at the same time. This story is about Camp Green Lake, when it was green and had a lake. Miss Katherine, is the towns school teacher, and she eventually falls in love with Sam. The problem with this is that Sam is Black, and it is against the law for a Black man to kiss a white women. So they burn down Miss Katherine's school house, and kill Sam along with his donkey Mary Lou. Miss Katherine then become Kissin' Kat Barlow and is "one of the most feared outlaws in all the West."
Even though Stanley doesn't know it now, but his and Miss Katherine's lives are much more intertwined than he knows. Stanley and Zero, a boy who doesn't know how to read, become friends. Zero learns how to read from Stanley, in exchange for digging part of his hole every day. One day Stanley finds a tube of lipstick with the initials KB on them. Since "Caveman" is new at the camp X-Ray, another boy at camp, decides he doesn't deserve a day off. As you get the rest of the day off from digging, if you find something the warden finds interesting. The Warden does in fact find this very interesting, and makes the boys dig all around the hole X-Ray supposedly found the tube. But they find nothing.
Eventually Zero gets angry, and runs away refusing to dig another hole. Stanley eventually follows him, and they find "Gods Thumb" and survive off dirty water, and Onions. They decide to go dig in the hole Stanley actually found the lipstick tube. They dig all night, and find what they think is a treasure chest. Just as they finally get the suitcase out, the Warden shows up, and demands it from Zero. However it and Zero are covered in Yellow Spotted Lizards, which are deadly.
Eventually both Stanley and Zero make it out of the hole thanks to all the onions they ate the days previous. Stanley's Lawyer shows up and takes him home because he has now been proven innocent. Stanley not wanting to leave Zero/ Hector refuses to go without him. And since they can't find Hectors files (because the warden had them destroyed) he is able to go with them. Zero uses the money from the suitcase to find his mother, and Stanley buys his parents a new house. Stanley's father invents a cure for smelly feet, and they make a commercial with Clyde Livingston who was the owner of the shoes Stanley supposedly stole. The book ends with Hectors mother humming an all to familiar tune.

Recommended to: All middle school children, this is a great adventure for both boys and girls.
Problems: This book is to cleaver for people to complain about.
My reaction: I loved it, sadly this was my first time reading Holes, I had seen the movie before, but I especially loved how the love story of Miss Katherine and Sam was wrote in the book, I didn't feel as emotionally attached in the movie. This book is cleaver, and intertwines two stories perfectly together. And allows you to solve the mystery right along with Stanley.