Home | Back | Site Map | Contact me

Holes
by Louis Sachar

Author:

Publisher:

Format:

Size:

# of pages:

ISBN:

Pub. date:

For ages:

# in Stock:

List price:

Your price:

Special discount:

Louis Sachar

Frances Foster Books

Hardcover

5 7/8 x 8 1/2 inches

233 0-374-33265-7

1998

10 - 14

2 $19.00

$11.35

$10.20

Recognitions:

Winner of the National Book Award
New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year
1999 Newbery Medal Winner

Click to add to shopping bag.

Why You Will Enjoy This Book

Holes by Louis Sachar is a Newbery medal winner with surprises in every chapter. Sachar weaves into his adventure story many "life lessons"-- told quite subtly. There are three that spoke to me:

Adversity can strengthen one's character.
Bad luck is only a state of mind.
Best friends can be found in unusual places.

Mr. Sachar's spins a great story full of outlandish humor and of tenderness.

Synopsis

In Holes a Newbery Medal winner Louis Sachar weaves the story of Stanley Yelnats. (Notice his last name is Stanley spelled backwards.) Some kids are just plain unlucky. Such had always been the case with Stanley. As the book begins he finds himself handcuffed and riding on a bus to Green Lake, a place where "bad boys" go. For recreation the residents of Green Lake camp dig holes. Why the warden makes them dig holes and what they discover is the substance of this often humorous, often heartrending, always gripping adventure story.

Description

Holes is an amazing intertwining of character's lives that encompasses several generations. The tale begins by reciting Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great grandfather's story." Sachar tells this tale, then joins it to the story of a school teacher turned outlaw. By the final chapter "Holes" has come full circle to Stanley and his partner-in-adventure, Zero. Sachar dangles clues in every chapter, yet when events unfold, they will take the reader with complete surprise. In "Holes" one will discover humor, love, buried treasure, scary red-eyed, yellow spotted lizards, outlaws, and Zero, Stanley's friend and final piece of the Yelnat's bad luck puzzle. "Holes" should be an instant hit with readers 10 and up.

About Louis Sachar

Born: March 20, 1954 in East Meadow, NY

Home: Austin, TX

For Louis Sachar, as is true for many people, one moment in his college life greatly influenced what he would become. He began his college career greatly interested in Russian Literature. He enrolled in Russian primarily to be able to read one of his favorite authors, Dostoevsky in Russian.

After a year of Russian studies Sachar claims Russian was still “Greek to him.” He gave up trying to learn Russian and began looking for a class to take in its place. During this time he was handed a piece of paper from an elementary student on campus. The paper said: “Help. We need teachers’ aides at our school. Earn three units of credit.” Sachar became a teacher’ aide in Hillside Elementary School and found he enjoyed his 3 hours of credit immensely.

In 1976, just as he began law school, he compiled the stories about the kids at Hillside into a book called, Sideways Stories from Wayside School. The book was published and was successful. However, Louis Sachar agonized for six years over a choice of a profession--becoming an attorney or writing children’s books. Sachar has been an attorney since 1981, but with the success of Sideways Stories and others has chosen to devote his time to writing.

He has written 23 books. Perhaps his best known book is Holes that was also made into a movie for which Sachar wrote the screenplay and also had a very short appearance on the screen. Sachar says his favorite character in Holes is Kissin’ Kate Barlow.

*information compiled from Scholastic’s ‘About the Author’ page and from transcripts of Louis Sachar’s Interview with Scholastic students and teachers on February 23,2006.

For more information about Louis Sachar, visit his website.

Another Book of Interest

You might also enjoy A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements.

Holesby Louis Sachar