HOLES by Louis Sachar  
 
SETTING/THEMES

        This book is set at Camp Green Lake in Texas.This is a place where boys where sent to “build character”. The book was also set in the early 1900s.          

 CHARACTERS/PLOT 

         The main characters are Stanley Yelnats IV and his family, his Great Great Grandfather  Stanley Yelnats.  Other important characters are Hector Zeroney and his Great Great Grandmother Madam Zaroney,Sam and Kissin Kate Barlow. 

         The story is about Stanley Yalnats, a boy who gets in trouble for stealing a pair of shoes given by a famous sportsman called Clyde “Sweetfeet”  Livingston, who gave them to an orphanage, Stanley told the Judge they fell from the sky, but he didn’t believe him,even though it was the truth.  Stanley thought his punishment of being sent to Camp Green Lake was down to his “ no-good-dirty-rotten-pig stealing” Great Great Grandfather.  Beacause of him, his family had been cursed for hundreds of years. 

          When he got to Camp Green Lake he realised that the reason the boys had to dig holes was not to “build caractor” but to search for treasure that had been buried by the cruel Warden’s Great Great Grandmother “Kissin Kate Barlow. 

 Stanley who had been nicknamed “Caveman”by the boys, dug and searched like all the other boys and eventually found it, but als discovered that it was his destiny to be accused of stealing the shoes, sent to Camp Green Lake and then find treasure, that had his name on it,and become a millionaire.

STYLE OF WRITING

  The Story of HOLES was written in a way that made me feel part of the book.  The Text combined narrative and dialogue.  The narrator told the story of Stanley and family and how their lives changed, while the dialogue between the characters made the story more real to me. 

                          MY VIEW 

I would really recommend this book as I enjoyed it very much.  It was funny, sad and exciting and I loved all the characters especially Stanley and Hector. 

Stanley was just a normal boy like any other boy and I liked the way it showed how fate changed his life forever.

By Paul Byrne

Setting/Themes

Holes is set in a town in America,on a dried up lake.  The themes of the book are courage,bravery,dishonesty,family life and friendship.

Characters/Plot

The main characters in the book are Stanley Yelnats, Hector Zeroni (also known as zero),The Warden and Mr Sir.

    Stanley Yelnat’s family are a very unlucky family ,so when Stanley is wrongly accused of stealing a pair of shoes he is sent to a detention centre for young boys.  The centre is called Camp Green Lake.  The boys must dig a hole five feet deep and five feet across everyday in the dried up lake and blistering heat.

   The boys are told by the warden that digging the hole each day is character building but this is a lie.  Something else is out there and Stanley and Zero embark on a journey together to find out what the warden is looking for and along the way discover some truths and they from a very special friendship.  This friendship sends them on a incredible and frightening journey together.

Style of writing

The exciting thing about the writing of the book is the way it travels back in time and gives you an insight into Stanley's family life by going back generations to his great great grandfather.  The writer tells it in such a way that you don't get lost throughout the book.  The friendship between Stanley and Zero is lovely,especially the way they look out for each other.  Stanley is shown to be a quiet boy at the beginning of the book,but as the book goes on it shows his,courage,bravery and kindness.  The twists,turns and surprises in this book are fantastic and will keep you captivated.  The writer uses lots of narrative and dialogue.

My view

I would definitely recommend this book.  I loved everything about it.  It is a book you won't be able to put down.  It keeps you captivated with all the surprises throughout the book.  I really like the way the book goes back in time to Stanley's great great grandfather's time and the way it shows the lake when it as a town with a lake in it.  It’s actually no surprise that the ending of the book is actually "Brilliant"

                       By Ross Nevins