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Genre: Fiction • Setting: The setting for Holes is at Camp Green Lake. The name is kind of a contradiction because there is NOTHING green at Camp Green Lake. There is also no lake so the name really has nothing to do with the camp except that there once was a lake.
Theme Theme: The theme of holes is the power of fate to determine events.This theme makes since because Stanley “Caveman” Yelnats always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though on one occasion it seemed fatal it actually proved to be a life changing experience for the better.
Stanley “Caveman”Yelnats • Stanley is an overweight kid who doesn’t have any friends, and is often picked on by the school bully. Stanley's family is cursed with bad luck and although they do not have much money they always try to remain hopeful and look on the bright side of things. He is also not easily depressed. This characteristic helps him adjust to the awful conditions of Camp Green Lake. Over the course of the book Stanley looses weight and gains a nickname “Caveman.”
Hector “Zero” Zeroni • Hector Zeroni is probably the least popular of all the “campers.” When Zero was very little his mother abandoned or “lost him.” So he has been homeless the majority of his life which in turn causes him to have very little education. Since Zero has little education he can’t read or write. Zero is a VERY quiet person he always walks around in silence. Once he gets to know Stanley a bit better he tells Stanley that he doesn’t talk much because he doesn’t like answering questions especially from Mr. Sir who is always mocking him.
Rex “X- Ray” • X-ray is the self-claimed leader of tent-D at Camp Green Lake. X-ray is the one that gives Stanley his nickname (Caveman). X-Ray is also the one that chose the line order for the water truck. Every time that Stanley does something nice for X-Ray, X-Ray is nice to Stanley and stands up for him when the other boys pick on him. When Stanley becomes friends with Zero, however, X-Ray's system is threatened and he becomes hostile towards Stanley.
Katherine “Kissin’ Kate” Barlow • Kissin Kate Barlow is a sweet and intelligent women who was a school teacher 110 years before camp was added to Green Lake. Kate falls in love with Sam the onion man who is black. Even though they love each other everyone in the town is racist and have put every law in place to keep Sam and Kate from getting married. So when they run away they kill Sam and his donkey Mary Lou. That’s when Kate becomes Kissin’ Kate Barlow the outlaw. She kills certain men and leaves her mark by giving them a kiss with her red lipstick.
Theodore “Armpit” • “Armpit” hates being called by his real name Theodore. You find this out very quickly because Stanley calls him by Theodore and he gets knocked down HARD! Along with Squid he seems to be one of X-Rays closet friends. He is also the one that the warden gets mad at when the boys aren't digging up what she wants.
Alan “Squid” • Squid is just another one of the boys. He is just as tough as X-Ray but often follows his rules. He often messes with Stanley about writing to and receiving letters from his mother. The truth is that Squid cares about his mother too and when Stanley is released from camp Squid asks him to calls his mother and tell her that he is sorry.
Book Summary • Stanley Yelnats was given a choice. The judge said, "You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green Lake." Stanley was from a poor family. He had never been to camp before. • And so, Stanley Yelnats seems set to serve an easy sentence, which is only fair because he is as innocent as you or me. But Stanley is not going where he thinks he is. Camp Green Lake is like no other camp anywhere. It is a bizarre, almost otherworldly place that has no lake and nothing that is green. Nor is it a camp, at least not the kind of camp kids look forward to in the summertime. It is a place that once held "the largest lake in Texas," but today it is only a scorching desert wasteland, dotted with countless holes dug by the boys who live at the camp. • The trouble started when Stanley was accused of stealing a pair of shoes donated by basketball great Clyde "Sweet feet" Livingston to a celebrity auction. In court, the judge doesn't believe Stanley's claim that the shoes fell from the sky onto his head. And yet, that's exactly what happened. Oddly, though, Stanley doesn't blame the judge for falsely convicting him. Instead, he blames the whole misadventure on his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather." Thanks to this benighted distant relative, the Yelnats family had been cursed for generations. For Stanley, his current troubles are just a natural part of being a Yelnats. • At Camp Green Lake, the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the treacherous warden is searching for something, and before long Stanley begins his own search—for the truth. • Fate conspires to resolve it all—the family curse, the mystery of the holes, the drought that destroyed Green Lake, and also, the legend of Kissing Kate Barlow, an infamous outlaw of the Wild West. The great wheel of justice has ground slowly for generations, but now it is about to reveal its verdict.
Resources Links: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/holes/ http://www.louissachar.com/HolesBook.htm Books: Holes by Louis Sachar
