December 10, 2004
YA7: Holes
This is another one that's been on my list for ages (since kids come in and ask for it all the time), and I finally got around to reading it yesterday (its quick). Holes by Louis Sachar.
The book won the Newbery Medal in 1999 and was on the National Book Award Young People's List in 1998.
And of course there is the Disney Movie which I haven't seen yet but will probably track down now that I've finally read the book (the cast does not look at all how I imagined them though, but I bet Sigourney Weaver is great as the Warden with her rattlesnake venom nail polish!)
Description: "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. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment--and redemption."
240 pages
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
Ages 10-up. Grade 5-8
I thought it was a great read. Its quick and easy and weaves in the tale of Stanley and the other kids sent to dig holes with the history of Stanley's family and that of a crazy Wild West outlaw. It deals with some of the same issues of being an outsider and bad things happening as the other YA books cover, but does it humorously and with charm. Publisher's Weekly starred review described it as a "dazzling blend of social commentary, tall tale and magic realism."
Posted by Emily at December 10, 2004 08:11 AM