Holes
Light hearted
Refreshing
Timeless

Holes

Louis Sachar2010
The iconic multi-million bestselling novel from Louis Sachar. Hilarious, inventive and wonderfully compelling, this is an unmissable modern classic. WINNER OF THE NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn't green and doesn't have a lake) he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, reporting anything they find. Why? The evil warden claims that it's character building, but this is a lie. It's up to Stanley to dig up the truth. Witty, inventive and completely unique, this is a masterpiece of storytelling that combines sly humour with irresistible, page-turning writing.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Wes Michaud
Wes Michaud@westhebookworm
4 stars
Jun 15, 2024

i wold rate it a 3 stars if it was i book i read to my self but what made it a 4 star for me was my Science teacher because he did so good with voices for the different characters so the story is more of a 3 but i had to give a star for my science teacher and his voices

Photo of Vicky  Nuñez
Vicky Nuñez @vicky21
4 stars
Mar 25, 2024

This book was just as amazing as I thought it would be.

Photo of Sophie P.
Sophie P.@so_its_soph
5 stars
Mar 20, 2024

one of the best middle-grade books I've ever read in my life so read it

Photo of ayoni
ayoni@ayoni
4 stars
Feb 29, 2024

for a children's book, this is a banger!!! the story is not that special but enjoy it very much. worth picking this up.

+3
Photo of Meagan Fischer
Meagan Fischer @mstypharatfinklatifolia
4 stars
Nov 18, 2023

A really good book that I read in maybe 6th grade. Wouldn't have read it on my own but glad I did.

Photo of Raven K
Raven K@readsbyrae15
5 stars
Nov 5, 2023

This book gets better and better everytime I read it.

Photo of Eloise Hill
Eloise Hill@elohill
5 stars
Sep 16, 2023

AMAZING! Brought back so much childhood nostalgia when I read it as a kid and now later on I could fully connect pieces of the book together and understand it more.

Photo of Briar's Reviews
Briar's Reviews@briarsreviews
3 stars
Jul 31, 2023

Many moons ago in my youth, the movie adaption of this book was a staple in my elementary school. Shockingly, we were never forced to read the novel, but lucky for me as an adult I finally found the book and decided to pick it up. This book is so fun and would have been an excellent classic read back in my school days. Regardless, this book is still fun as an adult. Middle graders can enjoy the fun, learn a few lessons, and try to patch together the mystery behind the story as they read along. I want to read the sequel (I never knew there was one!) and I will definitely want to pick up more books by Louis Sachar in the future. This book is a gem for middle grade readers who want a fun story that also has a great lesson about honesty. Three out of five stars.

Photo of Jacob Salyer
Jacob Salyer@jacobsalyer
2 stars
Apr 7, 2023

2.5

Photo of Emma Valkyova
Emma Valkyova@valkyovaemma
3 stars
Jan 1, 2023

I enjoyed this book. It was an easy read that wasnt hard to understand. I liked the plot however it took way to long for the actual plot to start and then it felt very rushed and really fast. I propably will not be reading the second book.

Photo of Kirsten Simkiss
Kirsten Simkiss@vermidian
4 stars
Sep 12, 2022

Honestly, Holes is such a classic. I remember reading this as a kid and then later getting to see the movie. Still, it had been years since I'd last read it and it was really fun to go back and reread it. I'm glad this isn't one of those books that I read as a kid and I no longer enjoyed as an adult. I actually picked up some different nuances than I had as a kind while I was reading it as an adult. This book is as much an adventure story as it is a social commentary and I don't think I was as aware of what Sachar was trying to comment on about the camp's purpose in society and the different reasons why kids wind up in places like this. I don't think it sank in as much for me back then as it did now. Now, I know just how much of an impact all these little things have on a person whereas ten year old me was more along the lines of blissful ignorance. And god bless this book for not speaking down to the reader. So often I find that I feel patronized when reading books meant for middle grade and children and it makes me want to riot. It is SO unpleasant. There isn't even a hint of that in this book and I love it. I also love that in this book, these people are brought together because that's just the way life was. Some got put there because they made bad choices, some people did the right thing and got punished for it, and some people are just trying to get by with what life's handed to them. This book is one that doesn't ever promise that life is going to be fair and good if you're fair and good - although a family curse doesn't help things much either. Sometimes, all it takes to screw up your day is a dose of bad luck. This book isn't exactly realistic. It has it's own dose of fairy tale craziness to it. However, it also shows you that sometimes you just have to push through the bad things in life to get to the good things and I think that's an important thing for anyone of any age to remember. Overall, I definitely would recommend this book to others. I also recommend this movie because it's such a great adaptation of the book. It really pays to have the source author help write your screenplay.

Photo of Mercy K
Mercy K@mercyk
2 stars
Sep 9, 2022

** spoiler alert ** It's boring. Barely anything happens. I am the action packed types of books person. Like the Gallagher girls series. If you like action I recommend that.

Photo of Ashley Wendt
Ashley Wendt@undertheasktra
4 stars
Sep 6, 2022

I enjoyed that more than I thought I would! I remember seeing bits & pieces of the movie when I was younger and it never seemed like something I would enjoy reading. I couldn’t even remember much of the plot when I started, so it was nice going into it without much knowledge of what it was about. I definitely appreciated some parts of this book more than others!

Photo of Ella
Ella@pulpnprose
4 stars
Aug 25, 2022

absolute BANGER.

Photo of Sian Wadey
Sian Wadey@sianwadeykerr
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022

I had to read this as part of my English Class in my lower years at secondry school, and I really loved it. The story was interesting, oringinal, and had a great moral for children. I loved the characters and the plot was exciting, it seemed a fairly traditional idea but was twisted to fit modern times. A great kids novel, but I would recommend it to adults too.

Photo of Lee Yi Hsean
Lee Yi Hsean@justisa
5 stars
Aug 12, 2022

Although 'Holes' is a simply written book, I was quite impressed with it. I definitely wasn't expecting the plot twist. The author masterfully incorporated stories from the past into the book, and I quite enjoyed the switches from the past to present as it flows along neatly with the story at hand. I think every child should read this book at least once in their life. Trust me, it's worth your time.

Photo of Wes Michaud
Wes Michaud@lizmichaud
4 stars
Aug 4, 2022

i wold rate it a 3 stars if it was i book i read to my self but what made it a 4 star for me was my Science teacher because he did so good with voices for the different characters so the story is more of a 3 but i had to give a star for my science teacher and his voices

Photo of Vilde
Vilde@vforvilde
5 stars
Jul 25, 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it's like reading and imagining the movie adaptation of the book whilst reading; but as the author also wrote the screenplay to the movie, I think that is kinda expected.

Photo of Ken Yuen
Ken Yuen@kyuenrobo
5 stars
May 10, 2022

This is my first time reading a book from Louis Sachar since the Wayside school series as a kid. He's till funny and witty and strange in all the right ways in novel form. You know, for a story about a hellish desert prison for kids, the book never loses the humor and bizarreness of it all. I really like the friendship between Stanley and Zero, who is silent and mysterious for most of the story. I was surprised to encounter the touch of race issues too. Also liked the parallel stories between the past and present

Photo of Paige M Neylon
Paige M Neylon@paige139
5 stars
May 5, 2022

Loved it so much I've read it officially 3 times already--soon enough 4. I love it; I can't express that enough!

Photo of allison moler
allison moler@slayingreading
2 stars
Mar 8, 2022

read after already reading the sequel, not good

Photo of Tasha Dykstra
Tasha Dykstra@tashy
4 stars
Mar 1, 2022

read this a really long time ago have reread many times.

Photo of Nick Bicko
Nick Bicko@nember
4 stars
Feb 12, 2022

Innerhalb von 24 Stunden verschlungen. Ein klassisches Jugendbuch, zu dem ich bereits den Disney-Film kannte und erst kürzlich über das Buch gestolpert bin. Spannendes Setting, gut eingeflochtene Background-Story und witzige Charaktere.

Photo of Bowie
Bowie @unbowieable
4 stars
Jan 22, 2022

One of my favorites!!!!

Highlights

Photo of Emily
Emily@emilywright

ooo my first taste of horror and excitement

This book appears on the shelf Namjoon library

Ways of Seeing
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
1Q84
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
The Midnight Library
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Pachinko
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

This book appears on the shelf to-read

1984
1984 by George Orwell
It Ends with Us
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
Lovely War
Lovely War by Julie Berry
You Had Me at Hola
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
The Little Prince
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1Q84
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

This book appears on the shelf

Underground
Underground by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami Goes to Meet Hayao Kawai
Haruki Murakami Goes to Meet Hayao Kawai by Hayao Kawai
Three Women
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
The Beauty of Everyday Things
The Beauty of Everyday Things by Soetsu Yanagi
Inferno
Inferno by Dan Brown
Piranesi
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke