Holes (book)
A popular and Newberry Medal winning novel by Louis Sachar, Holes is a very accessible book to both young adults and old adults. The story's protagonist, Stanley Yelnats, has been wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of shoes and sentenced to 18 months of service at Camp Green Lake in Texas. The reality is that Green Lake has dried up 110 years ago, and inmates at the juvenile correction facility must spend their day in the desert-like lake bed digging holes--holes that must be 5 feet in depth and diameter. As the plot thickens, Stanley soon realizes that he and his fellow prisoners are digging for more than the sake of character.
One of the major themes in Holes is luck. Stanley has never been a lucky boy, and it is precisely his horrible luck that lands him at Camp Green Lake. However, the book suggests that bad twists of fate are simply godsends in disguise, as the novel's happy ending clarifies. Also notable is the story's interesting treatment of race relations.
Louis Sachar is also the author of other novels such as There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, Dogs Don't Tell Jokes, and Sidesays Stories from Wayside School.
