Holes
User reviews
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something.
I thought it was really clever to have Stanley's last name to be the same spelt backwards. I have never encountered an idea like that, and it made me laugh when I realized it, or was it when the book told me, I don't know. I also thought it was really strange to be digging holes in a dried up lake, but when the secret was revealed, I was just stunned.
I love this book, as does everyone else. It is full of everything you'd ever want. The movie is great as well, and it is well worth seeing it. Please read this amazing book!
I love the whole curse aspect, and the way Stanley is always fighting against that, and Kate Barlow's "you'll never get the best of me" attitude, with the way she hides her treasure, is awesome. You want so badly for Stanley and the other kids to find a way to defeat the counselors, and take the camp down, and that back and forth struggle feels very real in this book. There are ups and downs and an ending that is very well done.
--Alex
-Great emotional payoffs throughout
-True villains
-Unlikely Heroes
Holes Id seen the movie, watched it a countless number of times, but never really cared about the book enough to buy it. That was until a few days ago, when I was at a Used bookstore and found a copy, priced a cheap $2.80 (or .60, I cant really remember) and purchased it.
I didnt read it off the bat, still weary of the whole Book-to-Movie transition. Did the book mirror the movie I loved so much, or did Hollywood distort it like a funhouse mirror? Tentatively, I peeled back the front cover and read.
And thank goodness I did!!
Now, the book is different from the movie, but not by much and the book even goes into greater detail that the movie just couldnt in its hour-and-thirty-minute running time. I loved the book just as much as the movie, if not more.
So, if youre a fan of the movie, I suggest you pick it up. Havent even heard of it before? Well, its a simple tale about a boy set in the wrong place and the wrong time and how he eventually realizes his family isnt cursed and blah, blah, blah. . .Trust me, its amazing, pitiful synopsis or not!
Go on then! Pick it up! Youll totally dig it!
Holes is a great book I read in middle school. It's about this boy named Stanley Yelnats whos accuesed of stealing these expensive shoes when he really find them. It's either he goes to juvenile hall or goes to camp Green Lake. It's a camp for bad boys, where he has to dig holes. The reason why they dig holes is because the warden is looking for something, what that is I can't tell you because that would ruin the whole story. If you haven't read Holes you should go and check it out. It's a pretty good story, for adults and children. Theres nothing I didn't like about this story, it's pretty much perfect. That's why I gave it a 5.
First of all, the characters in this book are sadly fugitives. The main character Stanley Yelnats the third or his nickname ''caveman'', was caught with stolen shoes.He was going to be sent to prison or go to Camp Greenlake.The people at camp Greenlake are the fugitives x-ray, magnet, and armpit are the most important characters when Stanley gets there but after a few months he meets zero.He is important because he is the one that STOLE THE SHOES.When he herd sirens coming he got scared and through the shoes over the high way walking under it Stanley who got struck by the shoes.He was sent to greenlake not zero. But zero was caught.THIS BOOK IS A THRILLER FROM BEGINNING TO END.
I read this book in third grade, before the movie came out. The book is really good. It's about this boy named Stanley Yelnats, who was forced to go to a "camp" because he was convicted of stealing a pair of shoes that were donated to charity by a celebrity. Stanley didn't take the shoes, and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but by going to camp he is able to learn more about his family's history and past. He also learns about 'Kissing Kate Barlow', and why digging holes builds character.
As I said, it's really good. The book is meant for all ages. No matter if you're 10 or 20. The story is unique and genuine and worth the time to read it. The author is descriptive and by the end of the book it will feel like you, as the reader, personally knows Zero and Stanley.
My teacher made us read this in 6th grade Reading class. I myself thought it was going to be some boring guy book but boy was I wrong.
I liked the flashbacks back to Kate. She is a great charactor even now, one of my favs.
I liked Zero too, he was cool. I never would have thought he was that old lady's grandkid. That is what surprised me the most, and the onion thing too.
I loved the movie, just as much as the book.
"Holes" is packes full of great young men that you can't help but like. These guys are not the typical "boys next door." They are boys who have gotten themselves in some form of trouble and have been sentenced to a work camp.
The guys work hard, overcome a ton of obstacles, and end up solving a VERY long family curse.
Though this certainly isn't the greatest mystery ever, it is a great book and I think all young adults will enjoy it!
A boy accused of stealing shoes, a pig-stealing ancestor, a dried up lake, and a treasure-hungry warden come together in this amazing book.
Holes is one of the most brilliant YA novels ever written. Sachar juggles several seemingly unrelated plots, but joins them all together and ties up all the loose ends in a satisfying way at the end. When I taught this book, my students always BEGGED to read "just one more chapter." If you know middle-schoolers, you know that is extremely rare!
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