| Holes | |
|---|---|
Holes first edition cover. |
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| Author(s) | Louis Sachar |
| Cover artist | Vladimir Radunsky |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Satire |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Publication date | August 20, 1998 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 241 pp (first edition) 233 pp (second edition) 497 pp (on iPad) |
| ISBN | 9780440414803 |
| OCLC Number | 38002572 |
| Dewey Decimal | [Fic] 21 |
| LC Classification | PZ7.S1185 Ho 1998 |
| Followed by | Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake Small Steps |
Holes (1998) is a Newbery Medal-winning novel by Louis Sachar. It was adapted into a screenplay for the 2003 film by Walt Disney Pictures.[1] In 2006, Sachar published Small Steps, a companion novel featuring two of the characters from Holes.[2]
Contents |
At the beginning of the story, Stanley Yelnats, a timid, long-faced boy supposedly affected by a family “curse”, has been wrongly accused of stealing the shoes of the baseball player Clyde Livingston from a charity auction. As punishment for this crime, he is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention and correctional facility where convicts of similar age are forced to dig holes to “build their character.” Warden Walker, real granddaughter of Trout Walker, is actually looking for a buried treasure that infamous outlaw Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow stole from Stanley's grandfather. Years ago, Stanley's family got cursed by Madame Zeroni a fortune-teller and ancestor, due to a promise not fulfilled by Elya Yelnats, Stanley's great-great-grandfather, more popularly known in the novel as, a no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather.
Later in the story, the Warden’s decision that the boys dig more extensively for treasure leads to several dramatic events, later causing inmate Hector ‘Zero’ Zeroni, a descendant of Madame Zeroni and among Stanley’s better friends, to flee into the desert. Stanley, in search of him, later finds him in a tunnel dug underneath an abandoned rowboat bearing the name Mary Lou, the donkey of "Sam the onion man" over a century before. Zero had been living on jars of very old spiced peaches that he had found in the boat, which he called "Sploosh". Upon seeing a mountain resembling a human fist giving the thumbs up sign, Stanley recalls the story of his ancestor Stanley Yelnats I finding “refuge on God’s thumb”; whereupon Zero and Stanley climb in search of water.
Atop the mountain, Stanley discovers a field of onions, which the boys eat, and a pool of dirty water, which they drink, and during their contentment sings to Zero that they return to Camp Green Lake to find the buried treasure. Upon returning, Zero steals some water and food from the kitchens while Stanley looks for the buried treasure. At this they succeed, but are apprehended by the Warden and the camp staff, and become surrounded by a group of lethal yellow-spotted lizards. Because the boys have consumed onions, the lizards do not bite them; but being surrounded by the staff. Unable to leave the hole they occupy, they remain in place until the next morning, during which an attorney arrives requesting Stanley’s release. When the warden demands the suitcase, Zero indicates the name ‘Stanley Yelnats’ written on it, its contents being the jewels, deeds, stocks and promissory notes stolen from Stanley Yelnats. I.
Protagonist Stanley IV then uses the bonds to buy a new house for his family, and Zero hires a team of investigators to find his missing mother; meanwhile, the drought at Green Lake is replaced by rainfall, as if in response to Stanley's fulfillment of his ancestor's promise (a suggestion left purposely ambiguous by the narration). In a final scene, Clyde Livingston, along with the Yelnats and Zeroni families, celebrates the success of Stanley’s father's antidote to foot odor, composed of preserved and fermented spiced peaches and named "Sploosh" by Zero. The warden is forced to sell Camp Green Lake to the state government, who turns it into a Girl Scout camp, a coincidence since Mr. Sir, a head of the camp, told the campers that "this isn't a Girl Scout camp", referring to the backbreaking digging.
The novel 'Holes' is set in Texas. In the past the town was normal, everybody lived a normal life. But then, due to many factors, the town was deserted, the people left, and the lake had dried up. In the past the landscape is beautiful and they had the biggest lake and the weather was good because they had rain. But in the present they have dust and no rain. In the past they have fun everyday and it was heaven. Now they have to do all the work and it is boring.
Holes takes place at Camp Green Lake in Texas. The town used to be by the largest lake in the state, but is now a dry lakebed. The drought happened after Elya Yelnats failed to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and sing to her. However, after Stanley, the great-great-grandson of Elya, carried Zero, a descendant of Madame Zeroni up to the mountaintop, and unknowingly broke the curse that had haunted the Yelnats for generations by singing the lullaby to Zero.
Stanley Yelnats
Stanley is the main character in 'Holes'. Stanley is white, has curly hair and is overweight. He is from a poor family and lives with his mother and father. He doesn't have any siblings. He is 14 years old. Stanley is a good boy, and when he grows up he wants to work for the F.B.I. Before being sent to Camp Green Lake, Stanley lived a normal life, except he was bullied at school by Derrick Dunne, and had no friends. He gets sent to Camp Green Lake because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time: the police thought he had stolen a pair of shoes belonging to a baseball player from a charity auction for the people at the shelter. At Camp Green Lake he lives in D Tent with X-Ray, Armpit, Squid, Zig-zag, Zero, and Magnet. His closest friend at Camp is Zero. Stanley teaches Zero to read. In his free time at Camp he writes letters to his Mom and he receives letters from her. Stanley is a nice, young, talented and friendly person. He does not fight like the other boys at camp do and he does as he is told. He is extremely cautious about the sides in Tent D and never got on either sides' wrong sides.
Hector Zeroni
Hector Zeroni is one of the boys from D Tent. His nickname is Zero, perhaps because his surname, as revealed in later chapters, was Zeroni. Zero is bright, but illiterate. He is also the fastest digger in Tent D. Before entering Camp Green Lake, he was homeless and was abandoned by his mother after birth. He had stolen Clyde Livingston's shoes and was sent to Camp Green Lake, unknowingly putting Stanley in the same situation.
Zero is a silent boy who barely speaks to anyone besides Stanley. People always look down on him and think he is stupid, but he is a really brilliant, prudential boy. Zero always finishes digging his hole first before anyone else. He is younger than Stanley, has dark skin and was homeless before he was sent to camp. He is illiterate at the start of Stanley's time at Camp Green Lake; later, Stanley offers to teach Zero how to read in exchange for Zero digging part of Stanley's hole each day. This trade is met with criticism from the other boys at Camp Green Lake. Near the end of the story, Zero reveals that it was he who stole Clyde Livingston's sneakers from a shop and threw them off a bridge, where they then landed on Stanley's head as he was walking home from school.
Madame Zeroni
Madame Zeroni is a gypsy who used to live at Latvia, the homeland of the Yelnats and the Zeronis. She was believed to be a fortune teller. When Elya had wanted to marry a girl from the village, she had given him advice and also a pig to compete with Igor, another man who had wanted the girl's hand in marriage. Everyday Elya was to carry the pig up the mountain and bathe it in the stream, and sing a lullaby to it. After that, he was to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and sing to her too. However the promise was broken, and she put a curse on the generations of Yelnats.
X-Ray
X-Ray was in Camp Green Lake before the other boys and is the unspoken leader of Tent D. He convinced Stanley to give him whatever he finds in the holes, so X-Ray can get a day off as a reward. He made Stanley his ally and went along leading Tent D by a reward-and-ally-routine. He wears thick glasses and can hardly see without the glasses. He names Stanley Caveman, and also arranges the line for queuing up for water.
Armpit
Armpit is one of the boys at Camp Green Lake. His real name is Theodore. He is described as big, muscular and dark-skinned. He is called Armpit because he got stung in the armpit by a scorpion. Many people think it is because his armpits stink.
Zig Zag
Zigzag is one of the tent D boys at Camp Green Lake. His real name is Ricky. Stanley believes he is a more unstable character. Zigzag is extremely violent and abrupt, and did not show any signs of remorse when assaulting Stanley physically. He has been described to have wild blonde hair, and an abnormally think neck.
The Warden
The Warden is in charge of Camp Green Lake. She has red hair, and is covered with freckles. She was tall already, but was even more intimidating when she looks down at the boys, who were in their holes. She is extremely violent and abusive, and constantly attacks the staff and the boys by using poison. According to the novel, she has harmed Armpit by jabbing him with a pitchfork. She is extremely selfish, and only rewards those who do her bidding. She does not care for redemption of the boys, but only finding Kissin' Kate Barlow's treasure.
'Mr Sir'
He is one of the staff in Camp Green Lake. He just quit smoking and is often seen with a big bag of sunflower seeds, as a replacement to cigarettes. He is demanding, and his motto would be 'This isn't a Girl Scouts' camp.'
'Mr Pendanski'
Mr Pendanski is a worker in Camp Green Lake and he gives out water to the people who live in Camp Green Lake. Mr Pendanski was Stanley's counselor. He seemed friendly, but is actually very mean, as he mocks Zero and threatens Stanley at gunpoint.
'Stanley's Family'
The members of Stanley's family mentioned are his mom, dad, his great grandfather and his great great grandfather. The Father, Stanley Yelnats III was an inventor, but never had the luck to succeed in inventing anything. Thus the family is poor and lives in an apartment that smelt of old sneakers, and the father was trying to figure out a new way to recycle sneakers. The father and son sometimes believed that things were never right for them because they were under a curse. The mother was optimistic, and always reminded the father and son that there was no curse and at all, and that not all Yelnats were failures. She is also extremely worried about her son, but also trusts him, as it is obvious that she believes all the lies Stanley had told her in the letters to her. For Elya Yelnats, the great-great-grandfather of Stanley Yelnats IV, please see 'Elya Yelnats' above.
In 2003, Disney released a film version of Holes, which was directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar. The film was a modest success in the box office and a critical success.
A sequel called Small Steps was published in 2006 by Louis Sachar.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Out of the Dust |
Newbery Medal recipient 1999 |
Succeeded by Bud, Not Buddy |
| Preceded by New category |
Winner of the William Allen White Children's Book Award Grades 6–8 2001 |
Succeeded by Bud, Not Buddy |