Key themes
- Destiny, fate and the curse that runs through a family
- Digging as punishment — and what gets unearthed alongside the literal
- The past that must be uncovered before the present can be free
About this book
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 s
Published in 1998, Holes won the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Sachar reportedly had the idea for the camp and worked backward from it to construct everything else.
Discussion questions
- The novel interweaves Stanley's present story with two flashback narratives about his ancestors. How does Sachar develop these parallel storylines — and what does the eventual convergence achieve?
- The curse on Stanley's family is the novel's mythological framework. How does Sachar develop this — and does it feel like folklore, magical realism, or something else?
- The boys at Camp Green Lake are punished by digging holes. What is Sachar saying about this particular form of punishment — and what does the Warden's actual motivation add?
- Zero is the novel's most quietly heroic character. How does Sachar develop his relationship with Stanley — and what does their bond say about the novel's values?
- Holes is widely assigned in middle school classrooms. What does it offer young readers that most adult literary fiction cannot — and what makes it also readable for adults?
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