The writer or the book:
Louis Sachar

Title and title explanation:
The title is "holes". This is logical because the protagonist lives in a prison camp and must dig a hole every day.

Short description or the principal our ?:
1) The protagonist in the book is Stanley Yelnats. He is about 14 years. He is condemned to go to Camp green Lake for stealing a pair of boots. It is a boy with a mild character. He has also been struck by the family curse. The curse is the fault of his great-great-grandfather.
2) Madame Zeroni; a witch, she is the one who had pronounced the curse at the family Yelnats. This is because Elya Yelnats (see number 3) did not keep his promise to her.

3) Elya Yelnats. He is Stanley`s great-great-grandfather. He caused the family curse.
4) Zero/Hector Zeroni. Zero is a black person. He is very quiet and timid. He is in fact a street boy and he walked away from his mother when he was a child. He becomes friends with Stanley. Because Stanley teaches him to read. He runs from the camp.
5) Furthermore there are the director of the camp, Linda Miller, and other personel of the camp, namely Mr Sir and Mr Pendanski. The friends of Stanley from the camp are called Barf Bag, Squid, X-Ray, Armpit, Magnet and Zigzag. But they have more supporting roles.

Summary or the book:
Stanley`s family is infested by misfortune for years. His great-great-grandfather, Elya Yelnats has caused this. Elya Yelnats had promised the witch madame Zeroni that he would take her up the mountain on his back, in return she made it possible that he could marry the girl of his dreams. But he went to America without doing what he had promised. For this reason madame Zeroni pronounced a curse at the family. Stanley Yelnats is also been caught by this curse. On a day he is for a moment on the wrong spot. Stanley stands under a bridge and then a couple sneakers fall down! Stanley takes up the shoes. He considers it as a sign. His father tries for years to recycle sneakers, and for that reason he starts to run to his house.
But then he is been caught by the police. The shoes have been stolen from a shelter, where the GREAT basketball player Clyde Livingston gave them to. The judge gives Stanley 2 choices, to prison or to a camp called Camp Green Lake (a prison camp for young offenders). Stanley has never been in a camp because he is from a poor family and he chooses for that reason Camp Green Lake.
When he arrives in the camp, he sees a couple of little buildings in the middle of the desert. In this camp Stanley one must dig a hole each day of 1½ meters broad and 1½ meters deep. The director says that this moulds the character of the boys. Zero and Stanley discover that the director is looking for the treasure of “kissing Kate Barlow”, a robber from the Wild West. She has killed Stanley’s great-great-grandfather and left him at the same spot. Stanley’s great-great-grandfather has kept himself a live by climbing up a mountain which looks like a large inch. At the top of the mountain are onions and water. After a little time Zero runs away from the camp. Stanley follows him and finds him. Zero has almost been dried out and he is very weak. Stanley brings Zero up the mountain and the mountain turns out to be the large inch! So they are saved by the mountain, just like Stanley’s great-great-grandfather. He discontinues the curse. Zero is from the old Zeroni family, the same as Madame Zeroni. When they are stronger they are going to look for the treasure of Kate Barlow. At night they walk back to Camp green Lake and they start digging on the place they think the treasure is. After a long time, they find the treasure but director catches them. Everything seems to be for nothing! Then suddenly 2 people show up: Stanley’s lawyer and the warden. They prove Stanley’s innocence. The file of Zero has been destroyed, because nobody thought that he would still be alive. For that reason Zero is also released and they both leave the camp. The camp is closed because of child abuse.

Where and when?
When: The story takes place in this time. The flashbacks support the main story, but the aren’t the real story. In the book they tell about a couple of months.
Where: The story mainly takes place in Camp Green Lake. Camp green Lake is in a large, dry and flat desert in Texas, USA. There use to be a large Lake. In flashbacks concerning the history of the lake show that there was once a city called Green Lake. The lake was full of clean and cold water at that time. In the spring there are peach trees with flowers in the colours red and pink. In the time were Stanley and Zero live is in the desert only the camp.

What`s the central theme?
The central theme is the curse. Because of the fact that everything has been influence by the curse. Also is the writer telling you in the book how import friendship and perseverance is.


My opinion
I found it a great book! Because of the fact that the personages all had a role which was great for them. This ensured also that the book was nice to read. The curse, which everything influenced is in the story, is responsible that the book becomes not boring. Some people find that the flashbacks makes the story illogical. I found that it makes the story more exiting and that it made the book more fun to read. Also it is a book where you can learn much of. For example that you must not give up in difficult situations. That friendship 1 of the most important things in live is, but especially that you must be yourself!