Holes - Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats was a failure. But he was used to it. It had always been like that, because his no-good dirty rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather had not listened to Madame Zeroni. She had given him a pig to look after, and he should have carried her up the mountain once the pig was fully-grown. But he had forgotten about her, because the beautiful Myra had broken his heart. Now Stanley’s family was doomed for all of eternity.
So Stanley wasn’t really surprised when he was sent to Camp Green Lake, because a pair of sneakers had fallen from the sky and he had picked them up. He didn’t really mind going to a camp, because he had never been to one before. But Camp Green Lake didn’t turn out to be as nice as he had thought. As punishment, he had to dig a hole each day, five foot wide by five foot deep, in the hard earth of the dried-up lake bed. The warden claimed this was ‘character building’. But it didn’t take long for Stanley to find out that the warden was actually looking for a treasure. A treasure that belonged to Kate Barlow, the outlaw who had robbed the first Stanley Yelnats, the no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather’s son.


After digging many holes, Stanley decided that he didn’t want to dig holes any more, so he followed his friend, Zero, who had run away into the desert. When Stanley found him, Zero was almost dehydrated. Together the two boys headed on, to the only hope they had. There was a place in the desert called God’s Thumb, where Stanley Yelnats the first had found refuge, when he was robbed by Kate Barlow. Eventually they found this place, but Stanley had to carry Zero, who was unable to walk by himself, up the mountain. There, they stayed until they both had recovered from their journey through the desert.
When they were strong enough, they decided to look for Kate Barlow’s treasure. The boys went back to the camp at night and they started digging at the place where Stanley had found Kate Barlow’s lipstick tube. After some time they discovered a suitcase and tried to recover it. But unfortunately they were seen by the warden. She wanted the boys to give her the suitcase, but then suddenly lizards appeared. Stanley and Zero tried to stay as still as they could, because they didn’t realise they were safe, since Lizards do not like onion-blood.

In the morning, when the warden and the guards were still waiting for the boys to be killed by the lizards, Stanley’s lawyer arrived. It appeared to be the day that Stanley would be set free. When the lizards were back in the hole again Stanley and Zero climbed out of the hole. Zero took the suitcase, and he discovered that it had Stanley’s name written on it. The lawyer, Ms. Morengo, took Stanley and Zero home and they all lived happily ever after.