thedailychannel.com — recommended books

Holes
by Louis Sachar

This is a story about Stanley, a little boy who goes to a remote camp, Camp Green Lake, in the middle of Texas. It's assumed that it's the only place within 100 miles that has water.

Stanley has to dig one hole each day, each one five feet wide and five feet deep in the dried up lake of Green Lake. His friend Zero, also at the camp, stole some shoes and put them on top of a car. When the car stopped moving the shoes fell on Stanley's head.

Stanley was accused of stealing the shoes. Since he didn't have much money, he couldn't afford a lawyer. He had a choice between jail and Camp Green Lake, so he chose the camp.

Digging the holes is supposed to build character, but it doesn't. So Zero and Stanley run away from the camp. They live on top of a nearby mountain until they are rescued by a lawyer who frees them from the camp. They live happily ever after.

So, dig your way over to Amazon.com and buy a copy of Holes but it's 230 pages long, and it's not a picture book either, so don't buy it for your five-year-old.

You'll like it.

reviewed by Joe Girton on February 2, 2001