Holes

"Mr. Pendanski looked from one boy to another. 'You're all special in your own way,' he said. 'You've all got something to offer. You have to think about what you want to do, then do it.'"

Holes

Louis Sachar

Published in association with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC

Text Copyright 1998 by Louis Sachar

233 pages

Children's Book Genre, Fiction
Reading Level: Unknown (couldn't find)

Stanley Yelnats IV is a good boy who just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  After being wrongly accused of stealing a pair of shoes by a famous baseball player, he is sentenced to serve time at Camp Green Lake, a Camp for juvenille boys.  However this Texas lake is not a pleasant one.  It is a dry bed that hasn't seen rain in over a hundred years.  The boys are required to dig a hole five feet wide and five feet deep.  What the boys don't know is they're not just digging for character, they're digging for something that was buried by ancestors long ago.  While at camp, Stanley befriends a fellow digger, who goes by the nickname of Zero.  Together they help and learn from each other as they go on an adventure to escape the camp, and find out what they're really looking for at Camp Green Lake.  Their fates are intertwined as they not only learn from each other, but learn from themselves, as they realize that they can set their own destiny, and their lives are never the same again.  They get back to Camp Green Lake and find the treasure, which was buried by the infamous Kissin' Kate Barlow, who had stolen from Stanley's great grandfather, Stanley Yelnats I.  Stanley and Zero become rich and Camp Green Lake is closed.

I would recommend this book to an older group of children, about the age of 10 and up.  This is a very good children's book, and is even enjoyed by adults, however this is not a young child's story.  There is some mild violence in the story that may not be suitable for children under the age of 10.  Although this is a great story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This book may not be suitable for people who do not enjoy adventure or children's stories.
I was impressed by the story, and I enjoyed myself while reading this book.  It is very entertaining and Louis Sachar has a talent of keeping his readers' attention, wondering what will happen next.  There is a good plot and follows through beginning, middle and end, and there is good character development which is identifiable and relatable to those who read it.

Winner of the Newery Medal
Winner of the National Book Award
Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Notable book
An ALA Quick Pick
Winner of the Christopher Award for Juvenile Fiction
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year
A Horn book Fanfare
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Bulletin Blue Ribbon book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year