I have a lot of respect for a writer who can take holes, lizards and onions and create an incredible story.

This book was amazing. It held my interest from the very first page. The characters were lovable and interesting (I particularly liked Zero), the plot was fast paced and engaging, the writing style was easy to read and follow. I felt like I was there with the boys digging all those holes.

Once again, kudos to Louis Sacher for creating such a great thought provoking novel out of such a random concept. Digging holes? Lizards? Onions? This man is a genious!

"Everything I learned in life I learned from Holes". Yes, I have a sick addiction to this book, but this is one of those stories that has changed my life, weirdly enough. My copy is marked up with thoughts and realizations and random connections. It's a quirky story filled with deep understanding.

Holes (Yearling, Louis Sachar) is a fictional master piece that has been recognized as such through honors including the Newberry Award and the National Book Award. This adventure tale unfolds on the dry bed of Green Lake, where a juvenile detention facility works to build up the characters of troublesome youths. These boys dig holes. Stanley Yelnats, the story's wrongly accused protagonist, needs to dig a hole five feet by five feet everyday, always racing the scorching rays of the sun, on guard for yellow spotted lizards and thirstily waiting for the ever so slow water truck. But eventually, a mystery is revealed and Stanley wonders if they are really digging holes just because, or if there is something the warden is trying to find amongst the dust in the dried up lake? A challenging adventure unfurls as Stanley hurdles over such obstacles as rattlesnake venom nail polish, bullying boys, a family curse and shoes falling from the sky. Throughout it all, the reader roots for the sincere and trouble set Stanley as he matures in body and mind at every turn. Remarkable writing sets the mystery in full swing as every little snippet is a clue leading towards the surprising finale. This book is one of the great adventures that boys and girls can read in one burst, just to know what the heck happens next!

An adventure novel sure to capture the attention of a reader of any age, Holes (Scholastic, 1998) tells the story of Stanley Yelnats and the family curse that leads to his false conviction and oppressive stay at Camp Green Lake. Stanley is in for trouble when he arrives at Camp Green Lake when he discovers that it is not really a camp at all, but a juvenile detention center where he and the other boys his age are forced to work in the hot Texas sun, digging holes in service of the camp's sinister warden. Readers will come to feel as if they are part of the journey in this story as the clumsy yet compassionate Stanley uncovers one clue after another, tying up all the loose ends concerning not just his own life, but the lives of others he meets along the way. An intersection of past and present generations invites mystery that will make it difficult to put this book down even for a minute. With each action-packed chapter, Sachar brings the reader closer to solving what may only be called a puzzle of a novel. Boredom with this novel, a winner of both the National Book Award (1998) and Newbery Medal (1999), will certainly not be an issue for any child, as Sachar drops plot twists and turns until the very end when Sachar invites readers to "fill in some of the holes" for themselves.

In Louis Sachar's book, Holes (Scholastic, 1998), Stanley Yelnats,plagued by a curse passed down from his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-grandfather, is unjustly sentenced to eighteen months of hole digging, at Camp Green Lake, a place with no lake and where hardly anything was green. At first an outsider, Stanley begins to befriend the others boys at the camp, eventually bestowed the great honor of having a nickname. Settling into a routine, Stanley begins to realize that he and the other boys are not just digging to build character, the warden has them searching for something. As Stanley begins to piece together the mystery, he soon realizes that they are searching for the buried treasure of Kissing Kate Barlow. Sachar weaves together the history of the Yelnat family, leaving it up to Stanley to break the curse that has been haunting his family for generations. Winner of the Newberry and National Book Award, Holes is an enchanting read for anyone looking for a true adventure story.