Holes

Title: Holes

Series: Holes #1

Author: Louis Sachar

Publisher: Random House 

Genre: Middle Grade, realistic fiction

Source: Own

My Review:

Holes was an interesting story. I am not a huge middle-grade reader, but this one was for our book club this month.

I appreciated that the book is a quick read with short chapters. It was easy to get into, and wondering why the boys had to dig holes every day, all day long kept me invested. Talk about a horrible punishment.

I appreciated Stanley's character growth. He goes from being a scared kid to a courageous kid. Everything comes together uniquely.

★★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads):   

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 boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

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. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.