Holes, by Louis Sachar is the story of Stanley Yelnats, a young boy who is the victim of a miscarriage of justice - just the latest in a long line of bad luck his family have had for hundreds of years. Falsely accused of stealing, he is sent to Camp Green Lake, a boys' juvenile detention centre. In this place, the boys all must dig one hole every day, in the baking heat of a desert sun. Slowly, Stanley realises that the digging is not about "building character" as acclaimed by the warden, but they seem to be searching for something. The incentive to "find something interesting" in their hole is to have the rest of the day off. Stanley becomes friends with a fellow in-mate Zero, who he teaches to read in exchange for help digging his daily hole. When Zero runs off into the desert one day, the assumption of the guards is he will come back when he's thirsty, or become buzzard food - either way, they are not bothered. When he doesn't return, all traces of him are erased at the Camp - well, who's going to notice if this orphan disappears - but Stanley cannot stop worrying about him and heads out to try and find him ... This is a quick read, but an interesting one. We find out about the Yelnats' family curse and how the history of "Green Lake" is intertwined with it. The boys are the stars of this book - how they interact and talk to each other feels very authentic. I enjoyed this tale of friendship which is rich in descriptive text as well as dialogue. You cannot help feeling hot and dusty too as you follow Stanley in his search for his friend, which leads, ultimately, to a discovery that will affect all at camp Green Lake.
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 233 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from local library.
Formats available: print; standard audio CD; ebook.
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