Holes by: Louis Sachar

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Copyright Date: 2000

Page Numbers: 233

Reading Level: 12+

Summary:

Ok, Holes has three different story lines going on that all connect nicely in the end. I am going to explain each of the separately and then connect them after:

Story line 1:

Stanley Yelnats and his family had bad luck. His dad was an aspiring inventor who never seemed to get his big break. At the moment he was working on an invention that would aid in the recycling of old tennis shoes, so, their house smelled nasty. Stanley was a chubby kid who got picked on a lot by the kids at school. He hated it. One day a kid named Derrick Dunes stole Stanley's notebook and put it in the toilet. Stanley had to fish it out, and because of that, he missed his bus. On his walk home he was hit in the head by a pair of old tennis shoes! Thinking that it was a stroke of good luck, and perhaps a sign, he started to run home to show the shoes to his dad. That was when he was stopped by a police car. The policeman saw the shoes and arrested him for theft. Apparently, the shoes belonged to Clyde "Sweet feet" Livingston and he had donated them to the homeless shelter. They thought that Stanley had stolen them. They didn't believe that they had fallen from the sky. So, Stanley was sentenced to eighteen months at Camp Green lake, a correctional camp for troubled boys. Upon arriving at the camp though, it definitely wasn't green, and it definitely wasn't a lake. He was told by his camp counselor, Mr. Pendanski, that everyday the boys of Camp Green lake dug holes. Each hole was five feet wide and five feet deep (Their shovel was five feet long). The boys got up at 4:30 every morning and ate breakfast (from a can - everything at Green lake was canned) and they would start digging their holes. They couldn't come home until their hole was dug.

For the first few weeks Stanley (nicknamed "Caveman" by the other inmates) was just trying to survive the heat of the summer, the mean counselor Mr. Sir, and the pain that shoveling brought to his hands. Everyday seemed harder than the day before. There were mountains in the distance that would sometimes look like they would get rain, but it never came to them. Sometimes in the morning when the sun was coming up, he could see the outline of the mountains and there was one peak that looked like a giant hand giving the thumbs up sign. He would write letters to his mom every week but would lie to her and tell her he was enjoying himself on the lake and he was making many new friends. Really, at camp Green lake it was every man for himself. The ring leader of the group, X-Ray, was only your friend if he wanted something from you. A rule of the camp was if anyone found anything that warden thought was interesting, they would get the day off. The rule of the inmates was, if anyone found anything interesting, they would give it to X-Ray and he would get the day off. That happen to Stanley. He found a small gold cap that had the initials KB on the bottom. But, he had to give it to X-Ray. X-Ray got the day off, but not until the warden came out and had all of the boys start digging in the same hole. She had they dig an enormous hole around the spot that the cap was supposedly found (when in reality it was found by Stanley in a different hole). It was at that point that Stanley began to realize that they weren't just digging to build character, he knew that the Warden was looking for something. He put two and two together with the initials KB. He realized that they stood for Kate Barlow the famous outlaw, who had robbed his grandpa a long long time ago. He figured she must have buried her stolen riches out on this lake because after "Kissin Kate" robbed his grandpa and left him to die in the desert, Stanley's grandpa survived. He later said, that he found refuge under "God's Thumb." This, Stanley thought, must be the same mountain that he could see sometimes in the distance that looked like a thumb. He was tempted to tell the warden where the lid was really found but he didn't want to get into trouble.

Stanley struck up a friendship with a boy at the camp that everyone called Zero. Zero didn't talk to anyone but Stanley. Zero knew that Stanley was innocent. Zero asked Stanley if he could teach him to read. Stanley at first said no, but they made a deal. Zero would dig part of Stanley's hole for him and Stanley would teach him to read and write. This went on for a while but the other boys were mean to Stanley about it. They called Zero his slave (Zero was black) and they would torment them everyday. One day was really bad and they started beating on Stanley. Mr. Pendanski and Mr. Sir came running over, one shot his gun up in the air, and everyone stopped. The Warden came over to investigate. No one was happy that Stanley was letting Zero dig his hole for him. Mr. Pendanski started picking on Zero for being stupid (he did that a lot) and finally Zero got fed up. He took a shovel to Mr. Pendanski's head and ran off. No one bothered to chase him because it was a nine hour drive of desert in both directions. The counselors knew Zero would die in no time.

Stanley stayed a couple more days after Zero left. The counselor's came to see if Stanley knew where he was. They were guarding the water spout at night so that Zero couldn't sneak back in. They decided there in front of Stanley to destroy record of Zero ever being there, or ever being alive. Zero was a ward of the state and so no one would come looking for him... That next day, Stanley took off to try and find zero. First, he stole Mr. Sir's truck but drove it into a hole not long after he started driving. Mr. Sir was standing there looking at him and so he took off running. He had no water. After a day of walking he almost turned back but found Zero underneath a upside down boat named "Mary Lou." Under the boat were jars of a peach concoction that Zero had named Sploosh. Stanley tried it, but once the jar was gone, there was none left. Stanley tried to persuade Zero to go back to camp with him but Zero refused. He said that he would rather die than go back. So, Stanley figured their only option was to make their way to God's Thumb. It took them all day and Zero was sick for almost the whole time. Stanley found out a lot about Zero. His real name was Hector Zeroni, he was homeless for most of his life, his mom abandoned him in a park, and he was the one who stole the shoes that Stanley was imprisoned for. Stanley didn't care. For the first time in his life he had a friend, and courage, and strength. Eventually, as they were climbing the mountain, Zero got too sick to walk so Stanley carried him up. As the ground got less steep a horrible strong smell came to them. Stanley realized, it was onions! They were in a huge field of onions. They ate them hungrily. Stanley used the shovel that Zero had to dig a hole in the ground where they found water.

They spent the next few days there, eating onions and drinking the ground water. Stanley was happy for the first time in his life. Even though there was a possibility that he could die, he was happy. Stanley told Zero about the hole that he found the cap in and what it might mean. They decided to go to that whole and dig around to see if they could find something! They made the trek the next day. They made it to the hole in mid afternoon and they waited until night fell to start digging. Stanley dug while Zero snuck into camp to get food and water. Eventually, Stanley found something. It was a metal suitcase object! he dug it out and just as he was about to get out of the hole, a light shown on him and it was the Warden, Mr. Pendanski, and Mr. Sir there staring at them. The Warden demanded that Stanley give her the Suitcase. Stanley refused. Just as they were going to force Stanley out, the light fell on the bottom of the hole. It was a nest of Yellow Spotted lizards! (I haven't mentioned them before, but they are the most dangerous creature out on the lake, one bite from their black teeth kills their victim). But, apparently, yellow spotted lizards don't like onion blood, and that is what Zero and Stanley had! They were all over the boys and so the counselors wouldn't come near them. They were saved. At least for the moment. As, the warden was waiting for the lizards to back off, she told them that a lawyer had come to take Stanley away but he wasn't there. They had covered the fact that he ran away by telling her that he was ill.

When the sun came up a car pulled up and it was indeed a Lawyer there to get Stanley. Apparently there was a mistake and he was innocent after all. As the sun fell on the hole, the lizards backed off to find more shade. The Warden tried to convince the Lawyer that the suitcase that Stanley held was hers. But Zero had spent the whole night reading the name on the suitcase and he told everyone that it was Stanley's, and indeed, it had Stanley's name on it! As Stanley and Hector were leaving in the Lawyer's car, it started to rain on Green lake.

In the end, the Warden gets in trouble and is forced to sell the camp. Stanley and Zero get to keep what is in the suitcase (which actually belonged to his great-great Grandpa) which contained documents and files that made Stanley and Hector a little less than 1 million each. Stanley bought his parents a new house, and Hector hired a private investigator to fin his mom. Stanley's dad invented a foot odor cure that smelled of spiced peaches (remember that for later).

Story Line 2:

Stanley's great- great grandfather's name was Elya Yelnats. He was a poor boy who fell in love with a girl named Myra Mink. He went to her father to ask him for her hand but someone else had already asked too. The father asked Elya what he would give him in return but all he had was love. Elya went to Madam Zeroni, an old Egyptian woman that he had befriended to ask for advice. She told him that if he was to win the girl, he had to take a piglet up to the top of the mountain and have it drink out of the stream that ran backwards. HE was to sing to the piglet as he walked. If he did this, he would become stronger and so would the piglet. But there was one condition., once he won the girl, he was to come back to Madam Zeroni and carry her up the mountain so that she could drink out of the stream. If he forgot to do this, his family would be cursed forever. He took the pig up the mountain every day, and as the pig grew stronger, he did too. Finally, the day came what he was to bring the pig to Myra's father. He neglected to take the pig up the mountain that day and so his pig and the other guy's pig weighed exactly the same. So, the father let the girl choose. The other guy was 45 and weighed a ton and so Elya thought that it would be a give in, but the girl couldn't decide. That made Elya mad so he gave the pig to the other two as a wedding present and hopped on the first ship to America that he could. HE completely forgot about Madam Zeroni. His family was cursed for a long time.

Story Line 3:

110 years before Stanley came to Camp Green Lake it had been a beautiful lake with a town nestled on one of its shores. Peach trees would grow along the coast and every Forth of July there would be contests for the best peach recipes. But no one dared compete with Miss Katherine Barlow's spiced peaches because they would always win. Miss Katherine was a school teacher and everyone loved her. There was a fellow in Green Lake who was also known for his produce. Sam the onion man, was known across town fro his healing onions. He was proud of his donkey Mary Lou, who had eaten onions every day of her life and he was nearly fifty years old. Every week Sam would cross the lake in his boat, Mary Lou, to his special onion field and he would bring back a boat load full. Well, Miss Katherine was every single man's fancy in the town, especially Charles Walker. But he like all of the others that were after her, was rude and selfish. Then there was Sam. Miss Katherine would have Sam come and fix up the school house every once in a while. She would find random things for him to fix. She was sad when there was nothing left that was broken. She had fallen in love with him. One rainy day she heard Sam calling to the town about his onions and she ran out to him. They kissed. The problem was, Sam was black, and black men at that time were not allowed to kiss black women. The town, led by Charles Walker, burned down the school, and went after Sam and shot him. It never rained on Green Lake again. After that, Katherine became one of the most fear outlaws in Texas. She would rob men and if she killed them, she would kiss them with her rattlesnake lipstick. She was "Kissin Kate Barlow." After many years of that, she ended up in Green Lake again; what was left of it at least. One day Charles Walker burst in with his gold digger wife demanding that she tell them where she hid her treasure. They made her walk outside for a long time in order to force the whereabouts out of her. She got bit by a yellow spotted lizard and died. The Walker Family was digging for that treasure form that point on.

How it all connects:

-Zero was a descendant of Madam Zeroni, and Stanley was a decedent of Elya... The day Stanley carried Zero up the mountain, was the day the curse was broken.

- The sploosh that Zero lived off of was Miss Katherine's peaches.

- The boat that they hid under was Sam's old boat.

-The onions that brought their strength back were from Sam's onion Field

-The foot odor cure that Stanley's dad invented smelled exactly like Katherine's peaches and they named it Sploosh.

-The Warden was Ms. Walker - Descendant of Charles Walker

Who would benefit from reading this book/would would I recommend this book to?

I believe that everyone would benefit from reading this book, and I recommend it to everyone. This is especially good for kids who are figuring out who their real friends are. This book outlines nicely, what kind of people make good friends and what kind of people make bad.

What conflicts/problems could this book potentially cause?

Well, I don't think that we want a bunch of kids experimenting with old tennis shoes... But other than that, I don't think there are any potential problems.

My Reaction

This is probably one of my favorite books ever written. It is an easy read and it is entertaining! The author really is extremely clever in working all the plots together. It was hard just summarizing it let alone writing it. But, I think that it is a good book, and it is easy to get engrossed in. I also like how the movie is almost identical to the book. That is a nice touch.