Holes

Stanley Yelnats is a kid with terrible luck. He is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp in the Texas desert, for a crime he did not commit. There is no lake, and nothing about the camp is green.

Funny, fast and cleverly built, with a puzzle structure that pays off beautifully, held back only by a few tidy coincidences and cartoonish adults. Four and a half out of five. Read it if: you like funny, clever stories with a mystery at the heart; you want a great read-aloud for a family; you love books where every clue comes back. Skip it if: you only want realistic fiction; you dislike very neat endings; you want a slow, quiet character study. Review: Holes →

Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. Holes ending explained: the curse, Kate Barlow's treasure, the onions, the suitcase and the final scene. Full spoilers. Ending explained: Holes →

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It is written for middle grade readers, roughly nine and up. It includes harsh treatment of the boys, some violence from the past and the death of a character, so sensitive readers may want a grown-up nearby. That age is the reviewer's opinion, not an official rating.

Yes. Disney released a film adaptation of Holes in 2003, and Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay.

Louis Sachar wrote Small Steps (2006), a companion novel that follows Armpit, one of the boys from Camp Green Lake. He also wrote Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake (2003).

Holes is a middle grade adventure and mystery novel by Louis Sachar. It won the Newbery Medal in 1999.

Most of it is set at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp in the Texas desert. There is no lake, and nothing about the camp is green.

About fifty short chapters, so it is easy to read in a few evenings.

Stanley Yelnats, a boy with terrible luck, and his friend Hector Zeroni, called Zero. The boys in Stanley's tent and the camp staff round out the cast.