Book Review: Holes

Holes by Louis Sachar

Recommended For: All Ages

Rating: PG (mild violence)

This winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award features Stanley Yelnats, a kid who 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 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.

After watching the movie, I found Holes was originally a book. When I read the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book and the movie were almost identical. I loved the book as much as I loved the movie, and can see why it was given the Newbery Medal.

Writing: 5/5
The writing of this book was great. Louis Sachar cleverly switches between Stanley and an overview of past events that is necessary to understand the events going on with Stanley. The wording was good, no typos, etc., etc. I don't think I need to go through all that. Suffice it to say I didn't find anything to pull me out of the story.

Setting: 5/5
The book was set in Texas in the middle of a desert. Very realistic.

Plot: 5/5
This was a very original plot. Very intriguing. Well-rounded and no holes in the plot (pun intended).

Character Development: 5/5
I loved the characters! They were great! They were very well-done, as everything in this book was. The characters were very deep.

I enjoyed this book, as you can tell. This book would be a good read-aloud, good for the whole family. It is deserving of the Newbery Medal.