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Holes (novel)

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Holes
Holes first edition cover.
AuthorLouis Sachar
Cover artistVladimir Radunsky
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date
August 20, 1998
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages240 pp (first edition)
ISBNISBN 9780374332655 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Followed byStanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake 

Holes is a Newbery Medal-winning novel by Louis Sachar. It was later adapted into a screenplay for the 2003 film by Walt Disney Pictures, which starred Shia LaBeouf and Khleo Thomas and was a critical success. In 2006, Sachar published Small Steps, a companion novel which is about one of the characters from Holes, Armpit.

Summary

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 At the beginning of this novel, Stanley Yelnats, an unlucky adolescent boy is introduced. In a mix-up involving Clyde Livingston's (a famous baseball player) shoes, Stanley is falsely accused of theft, and sentenced to go to Camp Green Lake, a boys' juvenile detention facility. From the beginning, his terrible luck is always blamed on his great, great grandfather.

This was because when Stanley's great, great grandfather was in his late teen years, he fell in love with Myra Menka. His great, great grandfather's name was Elya Yelnats. He went to ask Myra's father for her hand in marriage, but so did another man named Igor Barlov. Igor raised pigs, so Myra's father wanted her to marry him, just for the food. Elya said the only thing he had to offer was a heart full of love. Elya Yelnats was upset with the whole marriage situation, so he went to go talk to Madame Zeroni, and old Egyptian women, with dark skin. Elya told her his problem, and she came up with a solution. She said her sow just had piglets the day before he went to talk to her. She continued, by informing him there was a runt, and that he could have it. Madame Zeroni told him that up on the mountain there is a stream that runs uphill. She instructed him to then take the runt up the mountain everyday, and sing to it while it drinks. She then told Elya that on Myra's fifteenth birthday, he had to carry the pig up the mountain for the last time, and it would be bigger and fatter than any of Igor's pigs. Madame Zeroni also said that after he gives the pig to Myra's father he would have to go and carry her (Madame Zeroni) up the mountain. Up there he would have to let her drink the water. While she drank the water, he would have to sing to her, just like he did with the pig. Madame Zeroni then said that if he didn't complete the task, him and his descendants could be cursed for life. At the time, Elya didn't think the curse could really happen. On the last day, he didn't carry the pig up the mountain. When the pigs were weighed on Myra's birthday, they weighed the same. Also, Elya didn't carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain, so sure enough, the curse began.

At Camp Green Lake, Stanley and the other boys had to each dig a hole five feet wide and five feet deep. The other boys at Camp Green Lake were all there for the same reason. They were there because they committed a crime. All the boys had nicknames, just for fun. Their camp counselor was Mr. Pendanski. They liked to call him Mom. The Warden was feared by many of the kids. X-Ray was the leader of the boys. He'd spent the most time at Camp Green Lake and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. While digging, Stanley found a gold tube with the initials KB in it. He realized it stood for Kate Barlow. As Stanley found the gold tube, X-Ray said to Stanley, that Stanley should gave him the tube and the other things he would find while he dig holes. One day, Magnet stole Mr.Sir's sunflower seeds. The seeds spilled on Stanley's hole. Mr. Sir came back and saw seeds in his hole. He took Stanley to the Warden. The Warden scratched Mr.Sir with her poisenous nailpolish for distrubing her. He had marks on his face. Mr.Sir was very mad at Stanley. Each time he came around to give the boys water, he would spill Stanley's water onto the hot, dry ground. Then Stanley's friend Zero ran away from camp. Stanley was still mad at Mr.Sir so he came up with a plan. He would steal Mr.Sir's pickup truck and drive away to find Zero. He went ahead with the plan. The car fell into a hole. Sadly, Zero didn't have a family, and he was poor. Stanley found Zero. Together they climbed a mountain that looked like a big thumb. They called it God's Thumb. They thought that water was on the mountain. Sure enough, they found not only water, but also onions.

At the end, Stanley find an suitcase filled with gold. There was one problem - when he did, Mr.Sir, the Warden, and Mr.Pendanski was there. Stanley and Zero found out that there were the yellow-spotted lizards on the suit case. Those were the animals that can kill you in a heart beat. Stanley and Zero stood dead still. The lizards finally got off of them. The warden had been looking for that treasure since she was a little girl. She wanted to claim the treasure but the suitcase was inscribed with the name of Stanley Yelnats(the first). Stanley Yelnats could go home and he took Zero with him to his new home.

Main characters

Stanley Yelnats IV/Caveman

Main article: Stanley Yelnats

Hector Zeroni (Zero)
Zero starts the story as a boy who doesn't say anything, and all he does is eat, sleep, and dig holes. The further into the story you get, the more Stanley gets to know him, thus more is revealed about his past life. He was separated from his family when he was three. He is a Ward of the State.

Zig Zag
Zig Zag is a boy with zig zaggy blond hair (hence the nickname) and an attitude. He does not say much but at one time broke into a fight with Stanley over Stanley's trade-off with Zero that include Zero digging Stanley's holes in exchange for reading and writing lessons. His real name is Ricky.

Squid
Squid is one of the boys in Camp Green Lake. Nothing much is known about him, as it's pretty ambiguous how he even made it to Camp Green Lake. There are some possibility that his crime relates to his relationship with his mother, as he constantly taunts Stanley of writing his mother a letter. In the end of the book, he even mentions to Stanley to write a note to his own mother, saying that he was sorry. His real name is Alan.

Armpit
A large African-American boy at Camp Green Lake. Brusque, but loyal to his friends, especially to X-Ray, the self-appointed leader of the group. Although his real name is Theodore, he is nicknamed "Armpit," as explained in the book's sequel, because of pain in the flesh between his arm and his torso (it may also have something to do with his name, which can be interpreted as "The Odor"). He was sent to Camp Green Lake "because of a bucket of popcorn," which is lightly explained in the book's sequel, Small Steps. He had been trying to ease his way along a row of seats at the movies and was making his way past a couple of high school seniors, himself being only fourteen at the time, when one of them stuck out his foot. They yelled at him for spilling popcorn on them, he then demanded that they pay for the popcorn, and by the time it was all over, the two older boys were in the hospital, and he was on his way to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility. The novel Small Steps follows his and X-Ray's lives after they leave the camp. Armpit's full name is revealed in Small Steps to be Theodore Thomas Johnson.

X-Ray
X-Ray, whose nickname is Pig Latin for his proper name, Rex, is Tent D's leader. He also goes by the name T-Rex. He is African American and wears thick glasses. He is street-smart and dictates to the other boys. At the end of the book, when Camp Green Lake is closed down and the other boys cheer Stanley, X-Ray is seen hanging back, and then leaving by himself. He, for having been at the camp the longest in his group, has the privilege of using the shortest shovel and standing at the head of the line for water. In the sequel, Small Steps, it is revealed that X-Ray got put in Camp Green Lake for selling fake Marijuana. His whole name is revealed in Small Steps to be Rex Alvin Washburn.

Magnet
Magnet, whose real name is José, is a Hispanic, lively character. Magnet steals whatever he can get his hands on, as he mentions that his "fingers are like little magnets"; he is at Camp Green Lake because he stole a puppy.He said that he would have made it out of there if his pocket didn't start barking. He manages to steal Mr. Sir's bag of sunflower seeds, which complicates matters for Stanley later.

"Kissin" Kate Barlow
Katherine Barlow was Green Lake's only school teacher. She is said to be and is very beautiful. She falls in love with Sam, a black onion salesman who occasionally repairs the school. One day the two are seen kissing in the rain, and because of the difference in their race, Sam is killed. From that day on, Kate becomes a notorious bank-robber and murderer, Kissin' Kate Barlow, known for kissing the men she kills and leaving lipstick marks. She eventually robs Stanley Yelnats the First and hides his treasure in the now-desolate lake bottom that has become Camp Green Lake. Trout Walker and his wife returned and captured her to find the location of the treasure. She dies due to a bite from a yellow-spotted lizard. In the present day novel, the intent of Camp Green Lake is to dig holes to find the treasure.

Mr. Sir
Mr. Sir is the counselor at the camp. He is severe, arrogant and nasty. Once addicted to smoking tobacco, he has quit smoking and eats sunflower seeds constantly (one bag a week). However, at the end of the story, he starts smoking again on the grounds that 'Sunflower seeds won't cut it.' It is he who often remarks "this isn't a Girl Scout camp", which generates the irony of Camp Green Lake's transformation into just that. He has a tattoo on his left shoulder of a snake. He wears sunglasses and a cowboy hat. He also gets scratched by The Warden and her fingernail polish. He sometimes drives the water truck around the lake for the campers. His real name is Marion.

Charles "Trout" Walker
During the 1800s, Trout Walker was a wealthy, loud, stupid, arrogant, selfish, don't care about no one, egocentric, display-prone local bully. He was Katherine Barlow's student, albeit more for her company than for an education, until she refused to be courted by him. Trout later killed Katherine's secret sweetheart Sam, who is an African American and at the time it was illegal for an African American to kiss a white woman. After Green Lake dried up, Trout Walker's family lost their fortune, for which Linda Miller had married him for. Trout and Linda found Kate in the cabin and dragged her to the dried-up lake, not even giving her time to put on her shoes. She was forced to walk on the hot ground, being ordered to give them the hidden cash. If she stopped walking, Trout and Linda would hit Kate on the back with a shovel and demand again that she lead them to the spot or they'd kill her. Kate is unfazed, saying that she has wanted to die for a long time, and that they'd never find the loot. Kate dies laughing when she's bitten on her wrist by a yellow-spotted lizard leaving them unable to locate the treasure.

Madame Zeroni
Madame Zeroni was an old Egyptian woman living in Latvia. She had no left foot and was the friend of Elya Yelnats. She is one ancestor of Hector Zeroni (Zero). When Elya came to Madame Zeroni to seek help in marrying Myra Menke, she gave him the runt of her litter of pigs and told him that he had to carry the pig up a mountain ("where the water runs uphill"), let it drink water from the stream and sing him a specific lullaby. If he completed that task and continued to do it everyday for a month, then the pig would grow big and strong — as well as himself — and he could trade it for the hand of Myra. In return, when the pig was full grown, then he would have to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and let her drink from the stream and sing her the same lullaby. If he did not complete that task, then he, and the rest of his descendants, would be cursed. Although Elya did not believe in the curse, he wanted to carry up Madame Zeroni as an act of friendship, but unfortunately, he forgot his end of the bargain and went to America, therefore cursing himself and the rest of his descendants.

Brian (Twitch)
When Zero runs away, Twitch is put in the D Tent. He twitches a lot (hence the nickname), and has a problem with taking cars on joyrides, and whenever he gets near a "real nice car," he starts twitching a lot more. When Stanley attempts to bring the truck to where Zero is, Twitch yells, "Put it in gear!"

Awards

Writing

Sachar decided to set part of the story in Latvia partly because he has family connections there.[1]

Analysis

One scholar has praised the descriptive passages about Stanley's laborious efforts at digging holes, which take up many pages in the novel. "The naturalism of the descriptions adds to the poignancy of the protagonist's emotional life" writes Maria Nikolajeva in her book The Rhetoric of Character in Children's Literature.[2]

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Main article: Holes (film)

In 2003, Disney released a film version of Holes, which was directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar. It was a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel and a modest hit at the box office.

Stageplay

Seattle Children's Theatre professionally premiered the stageplay in April 2002.[3]

References

  1. ^ Macdonald, Seth (2004-10-12). "An Interview with Louis Sachar". Liverpool Reads. Retrieved 2008-12-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Nikolajeva, Maria (2002). The Rhetoric of Character in Children's Literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 214–216. ISBN 0-8108-4886-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Gilson, Nancy. (December 4, 2002) Columbus Dispatch Author weaves history of region into "Holes". Features section, page 7G.
Preceded by Newbery Medal recipient
1999 		Succeeded by
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