Holes
Directed by Andrew Davis
2003
Walt Disney
Based on the book by Louis Sachar
Rated PG
Plot Summary:
Stanley Yelnats comes from a long line of men that just can't seem to catch a break. I mean, really bad luck. Stanley's walking down the street one day and a pair of super-deluxe running shoes almost hit him square in the head. He scoops them up, but before you know it he's arrested for stolen property, and shipped off to a work-camp in the middle of the desert, consigned to dig holes and avoid the camp bullies for 18 months.
He can't quite figure out the rules and reasons behind all the camp's prohibitions and diggings, but he does begin to sleuth the clues found in the bottom of the holes--with his new friend Zero's help of course.
Critical Evaluation:
A sunny and breezy tale of a boy's discoveries and his eradication of the family's long-standing bad luck. The camp's recollection of the penal colony and its slave labor-style ministrations are generally played as farce and high camp, its warden, jailer, and psychologist caricatured as greedy idiots. The story intercuts the 19th century tale of a feminist robber and her forbidden love for a black onion farmer throughout its scenes of boys digging, teasing, and bullying, with limited success.
Reader's Annotation:
Stanley Yelnats enjoys his life, and all his crazy family's stories. When he gets shipped off to the work-camp, he's inundated with the stories of all the kids around him, the rumors swirling around the monstrous staff, and the memories unleashed through the digging of the holes.
Genre:
Action Adventure/YA Fiction
Author Info:
Louis Sacher is the author of over 20 books of fiction. Holes won the National Book Award and the Newbery Medal.
Reader Level/Interest Age:
Tweens and up. Its engaging tone is fun for awhile, but ultimately its wide strokes will prove unsatisfying to mature readers/viewers.
Booktalking Ideas:
*Is bad luck the reason Stanley got shipped to camp?
*Why do the camp denizens assume Zero is stupid?
*What is Zero's significance to Stanley's story?
Challenge Issues:
Some guardians might be wary of story's depiction of historical racism, but any indignation regarding such would be questionable at best.
Why Include?:
Just trying to keep it diverse...heard a lot of high praise concerning the story over the past several years.
