Holes (novel)
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 2001 Paperback edition cover |
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| Author | Louis Sachar |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult |
| Publisher | Farrar Straus & Giroux Inc |
| Released | 1998 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-374-33265-7 |
| Followed by | Small Steps |
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 Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight. In 2006, Sachar published Small Steps, a companion novel.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The story's protagonist, Stanley Yelnats IV, is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers donated to a charity by Clyde Livingston, and is sentenced to 18 months of service at Camp Green Lake, a boy's juvenile detention center in Texas. There, each inmate must spend his day in the dry desert (which was originally a lake) digging a hole five feet deep and five feet in diameter. The Warden and guards at Camp Green Lake claim that they are digging to build character and break them of their criminal habits, but it's up to Stanley Yelnats to find out the truth....
[edit] Synopsis
The two main characters of this story are the descendants of a complex story that had occurred 110 years before. Stanley and Zero, two juvenile deliquents, the boys dig holes in the desert. The boys are told they are "digging for their own good", but in actuality they are digging for buried treasure. The desert itself is part of a 100-year old curse.
The book's contemporary plot is closely tied to two backstories, occurring 110 years earlier. The first tells of Stanley's great great grandfather Elya Yelnats and his son; the second relates the history of Green Lake.
Elya Yelnats was originally from Latvia, where in his youth he became attached to a young woman named Myra Menke. Unable to compete with another suitor, Elya visited Madame Zeroni, an old Gypsy friend from Romania who doesn't have a left foot. Madame Zeroni, however, thinks Elya should not marry Myra, since "her head is empty as a flowerpot". Giving Elya the runt from her sow's litter, she instructed him to each day carry it up a mountain, let it drink from a stream, and sing a lullaby to it. The enchanted pig would grow fat enough to please Myra's father. Madame Zeroni also requested that when Elya was done, he would carry her up the mountain, let her drink from the stream, and sing the song. She warned him, however, that if he did not do this, he and his descendants would be cursed forever. Elya gave his pig to Myra and Myra's father left the decision of marriage to Myra. She could not make a decision, so Elya left for America. Only later did he remember that he had failed to carry Madame Zeroni to the top of the mountain, and thereby invoked the curse.
Elya got married in America; however, his life seemed to be plagued by all kinds of bad luck. He began to believe it was the curse. Hoping to change his fortune, he attempted to find Madame Zeroni's son, but never found him. His wife named their son Stanley, because she noticed that Stanley was Yelnats backwards. This naming became a tradition, so that the Stanley in the story line is actually Stanley Yelnats IV. Elya translated the song that he sang to the pig into English while his wife changed it a bit to make it rhyme. The song and his story was passed from generation to generation.
Stanley Yelnats I became very wealthy on the stock market, seeming not to be affected by the curse. This did not last, as his entire fortune was stolen by the outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow(see below). After the robbery, he was left wandering in the desert for three weeks. In his delirium he said he survived because, "I found refuge on God's thumb." After his full recovery, he did not remember what he had meant.
The second thread concerns Katherine Barlow, the schoolteacher at the town of Green Lake. She was famous for her spiced peaches. Katherine was being (unwantingly) courted by a wealthy man named Charles Walker, who was often nicknamed "Trout" due to his smelly feet. There was also a Negro in the town, an onion peddler named Sam, who obtained his onions from a secret field. Katherine gave Sam some of her peaches in exchange for repairing the school's leaky roof. There were other problems with the schoolhouse, and Katherine kept giving Sam peaches in exchange for repairs. He eventually ran out of things to fix.
One day, Katherine said that her heart was broken, and Sam fixed it by kissing her. Unfortunately, they were seen by Hattie Parker, the wife of the general store owner. Since Sam was African-American and Katherine Caucasian, the next day a racist mob formed, led by Charles Walker. The mob destroyed the schoolhouse and wanted to have Sam hanged. Katherine vainly attempted to have the sheriff stop the mob, but he replied that Sam kissing Katherine had been illegal and that a hanging was required. He offered to ignore this if Katherine would give him a kiss. She refused. Sam attempted to escape in his rowboat. However, he was pursued by Trout in a motor boat. Trout then rammed Sam's boat and shot him. Three days later Katherine killed the sheriff and gave him that kiss he asked for. She became a notorious outlaw, pulling off many robberies (including the robbery of Stanley Yelnats I), and was known as Kissin' Kate Barlow. After twenty years, Kate came back to Green Lake and buried her accumulated wealth.
During those 20 years, Green Lake was struck with a drought which began on the day that Sam was killed. The lake dried up and Green Lake became a ghost town. Charles Walker and his wife, Linda Miller found Kate and demanded to know where she had hidden her stolen goods. She refused and said that Walker could search for "the next hundred years" and still never find the treasure. Charles and Linda tried to force her to take them to it, but a deadly lizard bit her and she died. Kate's last words were "Start digging." The drought has continued up to the time of the main story. Each Walker generation since then has dug hole after hole, attempting to find the treasure.
[edit] Characters in Holes
- Stanley Yelnats IV ("Caveman")
- Rex Alvan Washburn ("X-Ray", "Rex" in Pig Latin)
- Alan ("Squid")
- José ("Magnet")
- Theodore Thomas Johnson ("Armpit")
- Ricky ("Zigzag")
- Hector Zeroni ("Zero")
- Lewis (Barf Bag)
- Warden Walker
- Mr Pendanski ("Mom")
- Mr Sir
- Madame Zeroni
- Elya Yelnats (Stanley's great-great-grandfather)
- Myra Menke
- Igor Barkoff
- Stanley Yelnats III
- Clyde Livingston (Sweet Feet)
- Katherine Barlow (Nickname: "Kissin' Kate Barlow")
- Sam the onion man
- Charles "Trout" Walker
- Linda Miller (Charles' wife)
[edit] Main character description
[edit] Stanley Yelnats
Stanley Yelnats is an overweight, almost average teenager, except his family is cursed. It all started with his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing" great-great-great-grandfather whose name was Elya Yelnats. Elya wanted to get help with romancing a young lady. He sought help from a fortune teller named Madame Zeroni. She advised him to carry a pig up the mountain everyday until it was time to give the pig to the young lady's father as a wedding gift. The only stipulation was that Elya was to remember Madame Zeroni when he won the young lady's hand in marriage. He was to carry her up the mountain so she could drink from the stream. He carried the pig up the mountain and sang a silly song as Madame Zeroni had instructed. But to his doom, Elya forgot to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and thus his great-great-great grandson is stuck paying for his misfortune.
Stanley's bad luck begins when Zero is in the process of stealing a famous baseball player, Clyde Livingston's shoes. The alarm triggers a police chase and Zero, in fear, throws the sneakers off the bridge. Guess who is struck in the back of the head with the stolen sneakers? Yes, Stanley, and just as the police arrive. For this crime, Stanley is sentenced to eighteen months at Camp Green Lake. At first Stanley is excited to be going away to camp until he arrives. Surrounded by desert and yellow-spotted lizards with a motley crew of boys who are mean, Stanley turns his attention to the curse of his great-great-great grandfather,Elya.
[edit] Armpit
Armpit is one of X-Ray's closest friends. He is a very big boy, a little bit of a bully, and he is very true to his name – he really stinks! Armpit's real name is Theodore. When Stanley calls Armpit by his real name, Armpit grabs him by the head and pushes his face under his armpit. Armpit shoves Stanley to the ground as he tells him that his name is Armpit, not Theodore.
[edit] Sam
Sam was an African-American. He was known as the onion man. He sold onions from a cart pulled by his donkey, Mary Lou. Once or twice a week Sam would row across the lake to sell his onions. In addition to his onions, he had every type of ointment, syrup, lotions and pastes for curing many different ailments including asthma and baldness. Sam had a soft spot in his heart for the school teacher, Katherine Barlow. Katherine always bought a couple of extra onions and fed them to Mary Lou. When the school needed repairs, Sam offered to make the repairs; and in return, Katherine would give Sam some of her juicy canned peaches. Eventually, Sam and Katherine became a little "sweet" on each other. Back then it was illegal for a black man and a white woman to be together. Sam experienced a lot of prejudice from the people of the town, and was shot by the evil Trout Walker, as he and Katherine Barlow tried to escape from Green Lake in Sam's rowing boat.
[edit] X-Ray
X-Ray, who got his name because he wears thick-lensed glasses and happens to be his real name in pig latin, is D Tent's leader. He is street-smart and dictates to the other boys what to do. X-Ray decides the order of the line-up for the water truck. There is understanding among all the boys that if anyone finds something valuable while digging holes, then X-Ray will receive the credit. Stanley finds an empty lipstick tube and X-Ray gets a day off. X-Ray decides that Stanley will move up in front of Zero in the water line.
[edit] Zero
Zero is a fascinating character. His real name is Hector Zeroni. He is the fastest digger, yet he is considered last among the other boys at Camp Green Lake. Everyone in camp thinks that Zero is dumb because he never talks and can't read. That is until Stanley arrives. Stanley takes up for Zero.
One day Stanley took the blame for Mr. Sir's stolen sunflower seeds. Mr. Sir took Stanley to the Warden. When Stanley returns to the holes, his hole for the day was complete. That's when Zero strikes up a deal with Stanley. If Stanley teaches him to read Zero will help Stanley with his hole. He is a trusted friend of Stanley, and moves into his new house when Stanley's family become rich. Stanely uses some of his newfound fortune to locate Hector's lost mother, who also comes to live with Stanley and his family.Zero is an extremely tough and positive kid, because even when he is lost out in the desert and stanley eats his last jar of "sploosh" he is still smiling and stays positive all the way up the mountain to gods thumb.
[edit] Magnet
Magnet steals whatever he can get his hands on, which is the obvious reason he is at Camp Green Lake. He also like animals a lot.
[edit] Mr. Sir
Mr. Sir is one of the main characters. He serves in a supervisor capacity at the camp. He watches the boys as they dig their holes. Mr. Sir brings the water truck out into the desert. He knows the boys won't try to escape from Camp Green Lake, because he reminds them that they have the only water within hundreds of miles. Because he has recently stopped smoking, he constantly eats sunflower seeds. Everyone thinks he is so grouchy because he craves cigarettes. He tries hard to please the Warden, but sometimes fails and disappoints her instead.
[edit] Mr. Pendanski
Mr. Pendanski is supposed to be the camp counselor, and he seems to be the most genuine staff member at Camp Green Lake- other than the way he is cruel to Zero. The boys sometimes call him Mom because of the way he tries to take care of them. In the end it seems that he is just as rotten as the Warden and Mr. Sir.
[edit] The Warden
The Warden is the camp's director. She makes sure that everyone is always doing their job, digging holes. When someone finds something valuable in their hole, she lets them have the day off and extra shower tokens. The Warden makes her own fingernail polish made with rattlesnake poison. She is secretly looking for the treasure buried by Kissin' Kate Barlow.
[edit] Twitch
Twitch got sent to Camp Green Lake because he had taken a car and hotwired it. His nickname was derived from the "twitching" he experienced when he got the urge to hotwire a car. Twitch helped Stanley (by now nicknamed "Caveman") steal the water truck to escape when Stanley wanted to rescue Zero.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
[edit] Awards
- 1999 Newbery Medal
- 1998 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
- Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award
- Kansas William White Award
- Maine Student Book Award
- Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award
- Massachusetts Children's Book Award
- Missouri Mark Twain Award
- New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award
- New Mexico Land of Enchantment Book Award
- North Dakota Flicker Tale Children's Book Award
- Ohio Buckeye Children's Book Award
- Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award
- Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award
- Pennsylvania Keystone State Reading Association Book Award
- Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award
- Texas Lone Star Reading List
- Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fischer Book Award
- Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award
- Wisconsin Golden Archer Book Award
- Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
In 2003, Disney released a film version of Holes, which was directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar. It was a faithful adaptation of the novel and was a modest hit at the box office.
| Preceded by Out of the Dust |
Newbery Medal recipient 1999 |
Succeeded by Bud, Not Buddy |
