Holes by Louis Sachar, is a fantastic Young Adult book that should be read by at least every teen in America. The book offers both a window for complex thought, in solving many mysteries, as well as an opportunity for students to look into the lives of young adults struggling through a corrupt juvenile detention camp. The protagonist Stanly Yelnats and supporting cast of X-Ray, Armpit, Zero, The Warden, Mr. Sir, amongst a host of others, provides an interesting study into a wide dynamic of lives. Along with a dynamic character scheme, this award-winning book uses multiple flashbacks, subplots, and tremendous foreshadowing to challenge and spark the interest of its reader.
Stanley Yelnats comes from a cursed family, and when his bad luck causes him to be wrongly accused of theft, he ends up at Camp Green Lake (a correctional facility for young adult offenders). While at the camp there are multiple flashbacks to the fate of his great great grandfather, that caused the curse on the Yelnats family, as well as the subplot of outlaw Kate Barlow, and the former lakeside town of Green Lake, Texas. What once was a beautiful lake in the early 1900’s with a flourishing town around it, is now the site of the campers punishment. Stanley, Zero, Armpit, X-Ray, and the other campers dig holes everyday under the supervision of the harsh management of The Warden, Mr. Sir, and their “Mom.” We soon learn that the boys are digging to find the treasure of an old western outlaw Kate Barlow who use to live in the town where the camp is now located. The Warden and her family have been digging and searching for years, and now the campers are unknowingly involved in the hunt. However, Stanley soon begins to piece many old legends and family stories together to realize what the boys true purpose of digging is.
Eventually all of the subplots and foreshadowing come together to create an incredible story that is hard to put down, culminating in an amazing ending that I will not spoil.
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