Holes

Rating:
Summary: Dig Holes
Review: Books just don't get any better than this one. People say that J.K. Rowling is the next Roald Dahl, but in my opinion, it's Louis Sachar all the way.

Holes is about a boy, Stanley Yelnats, who is sentenced to a juvenile reform institution in which the boys are expected to dig holes in the desert all day, every day. This forced labor has an ulterior motive; the falsely-nice Mr. Pendanski, the ornery Mr. Sir, and the fearsome female Warden are seeking a treasure that they suspect is buried in the area.

There are a lot of flashbacks in this book that bring together storylines involving Stanley's ancestors, all of whom have labored under a family curse brought about by a forgetful great-great grandfather in Europe. Sachar has a lot of fun bringing these disparate elements together, and in integrating a theme involving onions and peaches.

The flashbacks have the feel of a fairy tale; the current events are filled with hardship and wicked adults who seem to delight in abusing their charges.

Despite the bleak outlook that life seems to present to Stanley, he finds himself actually enjoying Camp Greenlake in a way, because it's the first time that he's ever made friends with his peers.

This is a book that accomplishes many goals simultaneously, and does it well. Entertaining, touching, funny and sad all at once, Sachar also moves us through a fairly complex plot with a master's touch.

This book is a guarantee. Anyone who picks it up and reads it will be delighted that they made the investment.


Rating:
Summary: Holes
Review: " If only, if only, the woodpecker sighs," Stanley gloomily sang as he was digging. How would you like to dig holes all day with no water? It is a very harsh punishment. I don't really think you would want to send your kid there unless they are very bratty.
In the book Holes there is a lot of meanness, discipline, you can learn a lot and the kids in the book can learn a lot. The people that own camp Green Lake. Which there is no lake with any water doesn't give them any water until the water truck comes. Even tho it is very hot and humid.
Part of the discipline is when the kids get in trouble, they go threw a lot of harsh and painful punishment. They had to dig holes just as big as their shovels which is just as wide and s long and it is getting kind of exact. Sometimes, they couldn't stop until late at night. Some people would even get blisters on their hands. They couldn't even see their parents until they got throne out of the camp.
You can learn a lot because it teaches you that sometimes discipline can be very harsh and painful. Some people in America only get grounded, but they have to dig very big holes. These people usually stay in this camp for about two or three years. Sometimes, the kids stay in there for their whole lives.
The kids at the very harsh camp also learn a lot. They definitely found out when they tried to run away with the truck, but they don't get very far because they run into a hole. After they hopped out of the truck they started to run way. However, they found out that when they
ran away they would go very thirsty and hungry.
The part that moved me was where the one boy almost died. When they were going up the hill they almost died. When they reached the top I was relieved. But, at the top there was water so then I was very happy.

I think that all in all it is a good book, but that is my opinion. If you are the kind of person that likes a lot of meanness, and discipline y7ou should really read this book. If you don't
lke to read a lot of meanness then you should just ask people what happens in this book. You should also read the book if you like for your kids to learn a lot...

Rating:
Summary: Holes
Review: " Welcome to Camp Green Lake," said the bus driver. The first words Stanley heard as he entered the campsite. He looked out the window and didn't like what he saw. From then on he knew Camp Green Lake wasn't what he expected.
Stanley Yelnats is sent to penalty camp because he was accused of stealing a basketball players shoes. When Stanley reaches Camp Green Lake he takes a look out the bus window and sees nothing but tents and holes in the ground. At first Stanley is teased and picked on by everyone, even the wordan, the boss of the camp. Stanley makes a friend named, Zero. They both decide to run away and try to get back home. But a few problems come their way.
Holes is a great book for kids that love to read about adventures. It is full of tales, friendships and mysteries. There are tons of details and they are all very interesting. I loved this book because it caught my attention fast and had a very appealing plot.
People who love to read about teenagers, adventures and mysteries would love this book. If you also like the author, "Louis Sachar" this is probably one of his best books he's written. If you like stories where there are always questions that don't have easy answers you should read this book
Holes is one of the best books I've read. If I've perked your interest with what you've read so far read this book! That way you will learn of all the troubles, adventures and stories Stanley and Zero pass through on their journey home.

Rating:
Summary: Get to the bottom of the Hole.
Review: "A lot of people don't believe in curses. A lot of peole don't believe in yellow spotted lizards either, but if one bites you, it doesn't make a diffrence whether you believe in it or not." Many grownups don't believe there is a "out of this world" children's book but if they read "Holes" by Louis sachar it doesn't matter if they believe in it or not. Louis Sachar did it again; he has transported his reader to the mind of an average child. "Holes"is meant for anyone over than eight. The main charecter lives in a humdrum world before that bang of the gavel that puts him in Camp Green Lake. This is not "Camp fun and Games" as the kid ( Stanley Yelnats IV) imagines it to be. This is a camp where juvenile delinquents are forced to labor by cruel taskmastars who are actually worse criminals than they are. The Yelnats family is poor because an old Egyptian set a curse on the family, only to be lifted when Stanly befriends her great grandson and saves him from death. Stanley lifts the curse of the family, and finds almost a million dollars belonging to the first Stanley Yelnats. The rest of this book you have to read for yourself, and you don't have to ask " your no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-greatgrandfather," if this is a good book just take this bit of advice from me.

Rating:
Summary: "Holes"
Review: "Camp Green Lake is a camp for bad boys. If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy.....Stanley Yelnats was given a choice...'You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green Lake.' Stanley...had never been to camp before."
Stanley, that is Stanley the fourth actually, wasn't really a bad boy. He had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It must've been the curse that began with his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather." The bad luck of his family landed Stanley at Camp Green Lake. Sure it sounds like a nice place, but in fact it is not; it's just the opposite. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake, and hardly anything is green. The boys spend their days digging holes five feet wide and five feet deep. This labor is said to build character, but it isn't before long that Stanley suspects the Warden, who runs the camp, is looking for something. But what?
Twisted into this book is a second plot line about Elya Yllenats, Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather" and Madame Zeroni and an outlaw, Kissin' Kate Barlow and Sam and Mary-Lou, the donkey and Stanley Yelnats the first and many others. In the end, both plots are tied together so that everything fits perfectly like a complete jigsaw puzzle.
Louis Sachar won the Newbery Medal for this prize story. It is a fun-filled, imaginitive, and unique story. This is a story that will make the reader laugh, and it is perfect for a variety of readers. It's written in a simple manner so it is easy to read and could probably be read by a ten year old, yet the plot is fully developed. There is never a dull moment; there is always action. I couldn't put this book down. It's like a mystery to the reader trying to figure out how the two story lines relate. It's not until the end that all the loose ends are tied up in a perfect ending. This is a light, fun and humorous story that everyone should read.

Rating:
Summary: I love how they were at Camp Green Lake.
Review: "Holes!"

I like the book Holes because I like how Stanley Yelnats has to go to Camp Green Lake, because it reminds me of where my grandpa grew up in Austin, Texas. I would rate this book at 4 stars because it didn't have very appropriate language, because if parents were reading this to their children or grandchildren they wouldn't want to listen, because it didn't have language that they can and can not hear till they are little bit older. I like how Stanley Yelnats is spelled, because I don't think that anybody would think of that if they were writing this book. If I would give names to the book of Holes I would make Barfbag to Kenny Ynnek and Zero to Zillion Noilliz and so on. It was funny that Mr. Sir was called mom and if I was the author of Holes, I would make it Miss Sir as the mother and Mr. Sir as the father. I really like how what the yellow spotted lizards were found in the ground and not in the trees, because normally you would find them in the trees or on ledges. What would you do if you had to dig big holes all day eighteen weeks without taking any breathers? I would fake like I fainted and not breathe and then I would go to bed or spend time in the hospital and then I don't have to dig as many holes and then I would be able to take a breather and relax. Thankyou, Howard King [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: "The Sense of Destiny."
Review: "Holes" by Louis Sachar is a wonderful children's book for ages 10 and up. I occasionally read children's books as a complete change of pace, and this book was recommended to me by a librarian whose special interest is in fiction for children. "Holes" is the delightful story of Stanley Yelnats--an overweight, unpopular boy--the product of feckless parents-- who is sent off to a boy's detention facility for a crime he did not commit. Camp Green Lake, Texas is a horrible place--the lake is long gone, and all that remains is a dry lake bed. The camp is run by Mr Pendanski--a camp counselor, Mr Sir--the sadistic, sunflower-chomping guard, and the mysterious Warden who runs the camp with her own unique set of rules. Stanley is assigned to Tent D which he shares with other boys nicknamed Squid, X-Ray, Zero, Magnet, Armpit, and ZigZag.

Every day in the blistering heat, the boys are required to dig a hole--5 feet deep, and 5 feet wide. At first, Stanley thinks this is some sort of senseless requirement to keep the boys occupied, but it occurs to him that they are actually digging for something--something extremely important, and Stanley is right.

In the 1980s, Judy Blume books were touted for their inclusion of relevant childhood issues--such as divorce. It is a sad reflection on society that this novel takes place in a boy's detention camp. But the camp is not quite the sort of nightmare material that grabs today's headlines, and while the Warden seems to be the modern-day version of Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmations), the harshness of daily life at the camp is tempered for the audience.

Stanley undergoes a miraculous change as the story progresses. Not only does he change physically (thanks to digging all those holes), but mentally too. Stanley learns the true value of friendship and loyalty through his relationship with fellow inmate, Zero, and it is through this relationship that Stanley matures. The novel presents a marvellous moral tale of companionship, the nobility of self-sacrifice, and even includes a look at the ugliness of racism. This is all neatly wrapped up in a deceptively simple tale that ties up all loose ends in its cosy closing chapter. This is an utterly delightful tale, and I enjoyed it immensely--displacedhuman.

Rating:
Summary: Stanley Yelnats' Story
Review: "Holes" is a novel aimed at the 10-through 12 year-old reader. It is about Stanley Yelnats, a sad-sack teen who gets sent to a youth camp for supposedly stealing a pair of sneakers. The camp is in the middle of a desert, and the daily routine for the inmates consists of digging a five foot deep hole in the hard, dry earth. The mysterious warden believes a treasure was buried there and wants the boys to find it.

Stanley slowly adjusts to the rigors of daily desert digging and makes friends with his campmates - a motley assortment of delinquents that includes "Zero," who wants to learn to read and write.

This is an entertaining story. Unfortunately, the author starts weaving flashbacks to Stanley's great grandfather and to a frontier town that used to stand where the camp is now. These flashbacks are inserted in the story without any visible separation; there are no page changes, no italics, nothing to differentiate between a flashback and the Stanley-story. I found it off-putting as a style, and the flashbacks were confusing and dull, as well.

The author is a man of very few words, and I found the book much less satisfying than the pleasant film version. Children are the intended audience, however, and several 12 year-olds have told me they loved the book.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic tale of twists and turns
Review: "Holes" is a poignant, meaningful coming of age story that skillfully weaves together several intricate story lines. The twists and turns are exciting for both children and adults. Short chapters and poetic language make this book an easy read, too.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: "Holes" is one of the few Y/A books that has lived up to its hype. (And, as a screenwriter, may I also applaud the film version....one of the best films made from a book I've ever had the pleasure of seeing!)

With its circular plot and awesome characters, "Holes" is a fulfilling read. With a wonderful message about tolerance, Louis Sachar has created a classic!