Holes
by Louis Sachar · 1988
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize that Camp Green Lake isn't what it seems. Are the boys digging holes because the warden is looking for something? But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? It's up to Stanley to dig up the truth.
For young readers
In Louis Sachar’s *Holes*, Stanley Yelnats believes his family is under a long-running curse. After he is unfairly sent to Camp Green Lake, a boys’ detention center with no lake, he and the other boys must dig holes every day. Soon Stanley starts to wonder if the warden is really making them dig to build character—or to find something buried under the dried-up lake.
A curse is a kind of bad luck or trouble someone believes has been put on a person or family.
Unjustly means something happens in an unfair way.
Detention is a place or punishment where someone must stay because they are in trouble.
A warden is the person in charge of a prison or detention center.
Character means the qualities that make someone honest, brave, kind, or responsible.
Buried means covered up under dirt, sand, or another material.
Dried-up means all the water is gone.
Book data: Open Library