Holes

Holes. What do you think of when you hear that word? I think of buried treasure. Of juvenile boys working all day digging holes. I think of the book "Holes".

With Louis Sachar as it's author, it's no wonder "Holes" won the Newbery Honor. Written in an entertaining style with many twists and turns, this book has a lot of laughs. Weaving past and present times together to make one great master piece, "Holes" is a worthwhile book.

We start with our main character, Stanley Yelnats the Fourth (whose last name is the same as the first name but written backwards). First thing you should know, he has horrible luck. All because of his no good pig stealing great great grandfather, but we'll get more into that later. And what horrible luck he had. With no friends and a poor family that is trying to invent something to get rid of the smell from shoes, his life is the very definition of bad luck.

So when a pair of stinky shoes fell from the sky, Stanley had no idea that putting them on would change his life forever. And it did. It turns out that those shoes belonged to famous baseball player, Clyde Livingston and since Stanley was wearing the shoes, the police think that Stanley stole them. With his family not being able to get him a lawyer, Stanley is given a decision. Either go to jail or go the Camp Green Lake.

Of course, Stanley chooses the obvious choice, the camp. I mean, Camp Green Lake doesn't sound that bad, right? It's a camp and since it's called Green Lake, there should be a lake there which sounds a lot better than jail.

But Stanley just had to go to the wrong camp. With a dried up lake and a piece of land that has not rained in 100 years, there is nothing that makes this camp appealing. Rattlesnakes and scorpions roam the desert like land but nothing is at frighting as the yellow-spotted lizards which you die a slow painful death when they bite you.

Living with juvenile kids whose nicknames are Squid, Armpit, X-Ray, and lots more, Stanley's life couldn't have been more unlucky. But the most painful part of Camp Green-Lake are the holes.

Every morning at 4 o'clock, the boys get up and grab their shovels and pick a spot on the dry cracked ground. And starts digging. Each hole has to be 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep and if they find anything, they have to report to the Warden. Aw, the Warden. The devil of Camp Green Lake. Rule number 1, never ever upset the Warden. Unless you want to die a horrifying death.

The holes are suppose to for "character building" but Stanley can't help but think that the Warden was looking for something. And he was right. When he found a lipstick container that read KB, the initials sounded like it belongs to the famous outlaw, Kissin' Kate Barlow.

Which brings us to another story. A long time ago, when the lake was beautiful and still alive, Camp Green Lake was a town. A town that was known as heaven on earth because of Katherine Barlow. See, Katherine was a teacher but was known for her spiced peaches which were the most delicious things on earth. She would put the peaches and other spices into a jar and preserve them to give to people. Also, in the same town, there was a man named Sam. But Sam was black so he was treated differently. But that didn't stop Sam from being friendly.

Sam owned an onion farm and sold onions and onion tonics and medicine to the people Green Lake. You might be asking me why am I telling you this. Well, I'll leave that to your imagination. But I will tell you one thing. In the end, Sam was shot and Katherine Barlow left the town of Green Lake but not without killing the warden and giving him a "kiss". Since that day, Green Lake has never seen rain ever again.

Let's get back to Stanley. After getting use to the routine, Stanley has become almost use to this life and kind of enjoys it for he now has friends. Which reminds me, I haven't told you about Zero yet. Well, Hector Zeroni is his real name, but you can call him Zero. Appearing to the others as a dumb kid with nothing in his brain, Stanley befriended him. Finding that he actually is very smart, Stanley starts teaching him how to read.

Stanley

This brings me to the other part of my story. The reason why Stanley was so unlucky. You see, 110 years ago, there was this man named Elya. Elya fell in love with a girl and wanted to have her hand in marriage by getting the fattest pig. He asks his elderly friend Madame Zeroni for advice. She tells Elya to pick one of the pigs and to climb up the mountain and let the pig drink some of the water from the stream and sing a song. Every day, if he does this, the pig would get fatter and Elya would get stronger. However, after this, Elya would have to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and let her drink from the stream and if he doesn't, his family will be cursed for all eternity.

Can you guess what happens next? Yep, Elya forgets about the curse entirely when he is betrayed by his lover and moves to America. By the way, Elya's last name was Yelnats. And since that day, the entire Yelnats family has been unlucky ever since.

You might be asking how any of this has to do with Stanley. Well, when you're trying to escape Camp Green Lake and you don't have food or water and there are poisonous animals out there, everything in the past has to do with the present and Stanley's survival. Go read the book to find out what happens.

I love this book because it's so unique. I have never read anything like this book and it was absolutely amazing. The end summed up every single loose thread and it just made sense. "Holes" had a lot of suspense and I wasn't able to put the book down.

I recommend this book to 8 years old children and up. Both genders can read it but boys might like it more because there are no girls in the story. On a scale of one to ten, I give this book a 9.5.

Melody