Holes Academic Team Unit

Holes Academic Team Unit
Dr. T. Robyn Wilson

Meet the Author - Louis Sachar
Holes is an award winning book written by an author from Austin, Texas, Louis Sachar. Holes received the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the Newbery Medal. The popular book was turned into a movie. Mr. Sachar also wrote the screenplay for the Holes movie.

Louis Sachar--Biography
Louis Sachar was born on March 20, 1954 in East Meadow, New York. When he was nine years old he moved to Tustin, California. He stayed in California and attended the University of California at Berkeley. While he was in college he helped out at Hillside Elementary School, which inspired his first book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School. The book was approved for publication the week he started law at Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He graduated law school in 1980 and became a lawyer part time as he continued writing children’s books. He got married in 1985 and now has a daughter. He lives with his family in Austin, Texas. Sachar bases some of the characters in his stories on his own life and relationships. The character of the teacher in his first book was based on himself and his experiences at Hillside School. The counselor in There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom was inspired by his wife. The four-year-old little sister in the Marvin Redpost series was based on Sachar’s daughter, Sherre. In order to maintain his motivation when he is writing, Sachar allows only his dogs, no people, into his office until he finishes a book

Meet Stanley Yelnats Stanley is a student, just like you! He is found guilty of a crime he did not commit. His bad luck can be traced back to an old family curse! Stanley is sent to a juvenile correctional facility in a West Texas desert as punishment for his crime. In this thematic unit you will find out more about Stanley, his friends, the curse, buried treasure, and the desert!

Making the “Hole” Connection
Themes such as homelessness, bullying, and racism are explored in Holes. Holes also has real world connections to Texas history, math, and science. In science class, we will explore the harsh desert environment of West Texas. We will investigate the health hazards it presents to people living there.

Holes Science Topics Sunburns Onions Soil Composition Food Poisoning
Shovels as Simple Machines

Major Holes Activities
Decorating the 7th grade hallway as Camp Green Lake! Digging a hole on campus to examine soil composition! Guest speaker - Louis Sachar! Celebrating the end of the thematic unit by watching the movie Holes!

Holes Slide Show

Are you ready to dig into Holes?

Setting The novel takes place at a boys’ juvenile detention center situated in the dried up bed of a fictional lake in Texas. Most of the story is set in contemporary time, around the end of the 1990s. There are flashbacks to the town of Green Lake, which existed one hundred ten years earlier before the lake dried up. (Note: There is an actual Green Lake, one of the largest lakes in Texas, southwest of Port Lavaca, but the real town of Green Lake was all but abandoned after the Civil War.) There are also flashbacks to a village in Latvia in the mid-1800s.

PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
The present day parts of the story are narrated like an adventure. The historic parts are narrated like a folk take. However when the parts come together, Holes turns into a puzzle, or mystery book. The reader is never quite given all of the details needed to solve the puzzle until the very end. Small pieces of Stanley’s family history and the history of Green Lake are revealed bit by bit. The reader must keep careful track of the details of Stanley’s trial, Elya Yelnats’ story and the powers of Sam’s onions. This pacing method allows the reader to make inferences but does not confirm positive connections. For example, when the reader begins to suspect a link between Zero and Madame Zeroni or a link between the Warden and Trout Walker, the real names of the characters are not yet revealed so the ties between past and present are not yet proven. As the narrative shifts from present to distant past, back to present, then to recent past, etc. a linear story line cannot be maintained. Current events are described in chronological order, but do not necessarily correspond to the historic events described at the same time. Therefore, the tempo of the plot movement is slower for the first half of the novel. Then, as the pieces of history start to fall into place and the reader can see the relationship between past and present more clearly, the tempo speeds up. It is at these points that the narration changes to address the reader directly with instructions such as, “You make the decision: Whom did God punish?” and, “You will have to fill in the holes yourself.” The irony and dark humor of the stories within the story finally come together making the point that although fate seemed always to be against Stanley, his convoluted history proves otherwise.

Major Characters Stanley Yelnats Zero (Hector Zeroni)
He is a quiet, strong willed boy who is at the detention center with Stanley. He is good at digging. The other campers and the counselors think he is too stupid to do anything else. In reality, Zero is smart and very quick with numbers, but he is uneducated due to homelessness. Stanley teaches Zero to read and the two boys become best friends. It is this friendship that enables them to survive. He is the fifteen-year-old main character, the protagonist of the novel. His family has a history of bad luck, and accordingly, Stanley is wrongfully convicted of stealing, and is sent to the detention center, Camp Green Lake. He arrives there an overweight boy with low self-esteem, but after befriending Zero and surviving the ordeals in and around Camp Green Lake, he leaves with tremendous physical and emotional strength.

Minor Characters Mr. Sir The Warden Stanley Yelnats I .
He is the mean, antagonistic counselor at Camp Green Lake. He is cruel and sarcastic, always reminding the boys that they are not at a “Girl Scout Camp.” She is the embodiment of cruel authority. She runs Camp Green Lake with rewards and threats, showing no concern for the suffering of others. She is the granddaughter of Charles and Linda Walker, and though she says the boys are digging to “build character”, they are really digging for the treasure that her ancestors never found. Mr. Pendanski He seems the nicer of the counselors at first, but he turns out to be mean spirited. He regularly taunts and berates Zero, and jokes that the holes could be graves for Stanley and Zero. Stanley Yelnats I . He was Elya Yelnats’ son, Stanley’s great-grandfather. After being robbed in the desert by Kissin’ Kate Barlow, he climbed “God’s thumb” and survived there until his rescue.

Minor Characters, contd.
X-Ray, Squid, Magnet, Armpit, Zigzag These are the other boys at the camp. They have established an arbitrary hierarchy for the boys in Group D, with X-Ray at the top, and Zero at the bottom. Like the Warden, they use rewards and threats as their system of control. Elya Yelnats He is Stanley’s “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather”. The story flashes back to his village in Latvia where, at the age of fifteen, Elya accidentally breaks a promise to the gypsy, Madame Zeroni. This brings bad luck to the Yelnats family for generations to come. Madame Zeroni These are the other boys at the camp. They have established an arbitrary hierarchy for the boys in Group D, with X-Ray at the top, and Zero at the bottom. Like the Warden, they use rewards and threats as their system of control. Charles “Trout” Walker He was an arrogant, stupid man in Green Lake who thought he could have anything because of his money. He could not have Katherine Barlow and this angered him. He led the riot into the schoolhouse and murdered Sam

Minor Characters, contd.
Sam, the onion man Katherine Barlow He grew and sold onions and medicines made from onions in the town of Green Lake. He repaired the schoolhouse for Katherine, who fell in love with this kind, strong man. However, since he was black, it was against the law for him to be with Katherine. When they kissed it caused a riot in the town and he was murdered. His onions were still growing one hundred ten years later on the far side of the lake, where Stanley and Zero would find them. She was the schoolteacher in the town of Green Lake one hundred ten years ago. She was a kind woman, famous for her spiced peaches. She kissed Sam, a black man, causing the townspeople to burn down the school and murder her love. She then became the outlaw, Kissin’ Kate Barlow, who robbed Stanley’s great-grandfather. Her preserved peaches lasted until Zero found them under the remains of Sam’s boat.

Significance of Names Names have significance in Holes, the title itself describing many features of the novel. The boys dig holes at Camp Green Lake, there is a hole in Stanley’s life before Camp Green Lake, and there are holes in the story that the reader must fill in as the plot develops. In addition, the dual character names denote two sides of each character’s image. Stanley’s “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-greatgreat-grandfather” is called simply Stanley’s “great-great-grandfather” after it is explained that he is not really a thief. The sweet-sounding name “Miss Katherine” changes to the dangerous-sounding “Kissin’ Kate Barlow” when her lifestyle changes from schoolteacher to outlaw. All of the boys in Group D have real names that “society will recognize them by” and their bad boy nicknames that they insist on being called at Camp Green Lake. The narrator uses nicknames for the other boys, however, continues to refer to Stanley as “Stanley” rather than “Caveman,” and that sets Stanley apart from the other boys. The view of each character that the narrator intends to present is reflected in the characters’ names.

CONFLICT Protagonist Antagonist
The protagonist is Stanley, around whose ordeals the story centers. Holes is about how he overcomes his problems, both those created inside of him and the ones imposed upon him at Camp Green Lake. He grows stronger, physically and emotionally, and emerges a happy, confident young man. The antagonist is not an individual person, but the severe conditions and people at Camp Green Lake. Stanley struggles at first to survive then eventually to prevail over the injustice there. Ultimately, he fulfills his destiny and breaks the family curse through his friendship with Zero and their experiences together at Camp Green Lake.

Conflict, contd. Climax Outcome
When the other boys see that Zero is digging part of Stanley’s holes the stress level increases. The resulting fight causes Zero to run away and forces Stanley to take a stand. The climax occurs when Stanley attempts to steal the water truck and ends up running away to find Zero. Stanley finds Zero and their friendship is proven as they survive together on “God’s thumb”. They return to Camp Green Lake intent on finding Kissin’ Kate Barlow’s treasure and escaping. There the friendship endures one last test as Stanley refuses to leave Camp Green Lake without Zero.

Synopsis Camp Green Lake is a boys’ juvenile detention center in Texas. There is no lake there. The boys spend each day digging five-foot holes in the dried up lakebed. Stanley Yelnats, a boy who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, is sent there for stealing a pair of used sneakers that had belonged to a famous baseball player. The sneakers had actually fallen from an overpass and landed on top of Stanley’s head. Stanley believes his bad luck is because of a curse placed on his family after his great-great-grandfather, Elya Yelnats, stole a pig from a gypsy, Madame Zeroni. When Elya Yelnats was fifteen he was in love with an empty headed girl. Madame Zeroni gave Elya a piglet to raise so that he could win the girl’s hand by gifting her father with a fatted pig. In return, Elya promised to carry Madame Zeroni up a mountain to drink “where the water runs uphill”. When the girl chooses not to marry Elya, he is so distraught that he catches a boat to America, forgetting his promise to Madame Zeroni. The Yelnats family has had bad luck ever since.

Synopsis, contd. At Camp Green Lake Stanley is given the nickname “Caveman”, indicating that for the first time in his life, Stanley has some acceptance from a peer group. He grows stronger and tougher as he battles the harsh conditions at the camp, digging in the desert heat. He befriends a boy called Zero by agreeing to teach him how to read in exchange for help digging. This upsets the other boys and causes a fight. In the aftermath, Zero hits a counselor with a shovel and runs away into the desert. It is presumed that Zero will die out there and no one will care. His records are destroyed. Deciding to help his friend, Stanley attempts to steal a water truck and go out after Zero. He drives the truck into a hole, gets out of the truck and runs away. He heads out across the desert toward a rock formation that looks like “God’s thumb,” the place where his grandfather, the first Stanley Yelnats, survived after being robbed by Kissin’ Kate Barlow.

Synopsis, contd One hundred ten years before, Green Lake was a beautiful place where Katherine Barlow taught school. She fell in love with Sam, the onion man, who sold onions as food and medicine in the town. Sam fixed up the schoolhouse for Katherine in exchange for jars of her famous spiced peaches. Because Sam was black and Katherine was white, when they were seen kissing, the townspeople were outraged. A stupid, arrogant man, Trout Walker, lead a riot and burned down the schoolhouse, then killed Sam. Grief stricken, Katherine became the outlaw, Kissin’ Kate Barlow. On the day Sam was killed, rain stopped falling on Green Lake forever. Years later, Trout Walker and his wife tried to force Kate to tell them where in the dried up lakebed she had buried her treasure. Kate refused and died from being bitten by the fatal yellow-spotted lizard before any treasure was found.

Synopsis, contd. The Warden at Camp Green Lake is a descendant of Trout Walker. She tells people that the boys there dig holes to build character. In reality, she is continuing the search for Kate Barlow’s treasure. While digging one of his holes, Stanley finds a gold lipstick tube with the initials K.B. engraved on it, but he gives it to another boy to turn in to the Warden. The Warden has the boys dig frantically in the area where she believes the lipstick tube was buried. Only Stanley knows where it was really found. Stanley continues to walk across the lakebed and finds Zero under the remains of a boat. Zero survives by eating the remains of preserved peaches that had sunk with the boat. Stanley convinces Zero to head toward “God’s thumb” with him. Zero is weak and sick. They make it to the mountain, but Zero is too weak to climb so Stanley carries him up. They find wild onions and water that seems to have run uphill at the top of the rock formation.

Synopsis, contd. After a few days the boys have regained their strength and decide to go back to the camp to try and dig up Kate Barlow’s treasure. Under cover of night, the boys return to the hole where Stanley had found the lipstick tube. Stanley digs and unearths a suitcase, just as the Warden arrives. In the light of flashlights, the boys see that they are covered with yellow-spotted lizards. They stay completely still until the sun rises and the lizards go down into the shade, off of the boys.

Synopsis, contd. By then the State Attorney General and a lawyer hired by Stanley’s father arrive. The Warden tries to claim the suitcase as her own, but Zero, using his newly acquired reading skills, deciphers the name Stanley Yelnats on the side if the suitcase. The Attorney General and the lawyer take Stanley away. Stanley refuses to leave without Zero. There are no longer any records to keep him there, so Zero is released with Stanley. It turns out that Zero’s real name is Hector Zeroni. He is the great-great-great-grandson of Madame Zeroni, the gypsy that had cursed Stanley’s great-great-grandfather. By carrying Zero up the mountain, Stanley had broken the curse.

THEMES The predominant theme is how fate and history impact everyday life. From the moment “destiny’s shoes” land on Stanley we are shown that situations and events have been falling into place for over one hundred years, ultimately putting Stanley in the right place at the right time. Another strong theme is the value of friendship. The system of threats and rewards at Camp Green Lake accomplishes nothing, but the bond between Stanley and Zero earns them freedom and fortune. The third theme evokes compassion for victims of social injustice who have been misjudged. Characters who are at first presented as bad people seem not so bad once the reader knows their stories.

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS
Impact of Fate and History on Everyday Life The events of the past one hundred fifty years have been setting the stage for a Yelnats and a Zeroni to be together again. Each time a Yelnats seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, a fateful turn of events makes it the right place at the right time. Though certain events may seem like mere coincidence, there are far too many “coincidences” in Holes to discount the hand of fate. If Stanley had not fallen into the mud on “God’s thumb” would he have found Sam’s onions (which cured Zero’s stomach and saved the boys from the yellow-spotted lizards)? If Kate Barlow had not robbed Stanley’s great-grandfather, would Camp Green Lake even exist? If Derrick Dunne had not taken Stanley’s notebook would the sneakers have landed on Stanley? If Stanley had been assigned to a different group at Camp Green Lake would he have met Zero? This combination of events is so unlikely that the only conclusion is that history has been manipulated by fate, to bring Stanley and Zero together where the water runs uphill, so a Yelnats could keep an age-old promise to a Zeroni.

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS Contd.
Friendship The value of loyal friendships is illustrated repeatedly in Holes. When Elya Yelnats betrays his friendship with Madame Zeroni, the trouble starts for the Yelnats family. When Stanley and Zero’s friendship leads to their mutual survival, the curse is broken. X-Ray’s brand of friendship, the false kind based on rewards and threats, earns alienation from Group D at the end of the story. Only true friendship, like the unselfish bond between Stanley and Zero, can earn freedom and fortune - not just physical freedom and material wealth, but emotional freedom, happiness, and self-satisfaction.

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS Contd
Compassion for Victims of Social Injustice/Misjudgment Often in Holes, characters who are introduced with negative connotations evoke sympathy once the reader learns their stories. Stanley’s no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather was actually a sincere man who was treated insensitively, and inadvertently broke a promise. He was not a thief. Kissin’ Kate Barlow, first introduced as a murderous outlaw, was a sweet, loving schoolteacher whose life was destroyed by the cruelty and violence of the townspeople. Though she becomes a criminal, the reader is sympathetic to her pain. Even Stanley and Zero are at first introduced as bad boys who have been sent to a detention center, but once again the false first impression that gains them society’s punishment, earns them compassion from the reader who knows the truth. Many social stereotypes that lead to injustice, for example that the inability to read signifies stupidity, or that if you tell the truth you will be treated fairly, are challenged once the victims’ stories are revealed.

POINT OF VIEW Stanley’s story is told by an omniscient narrator that is able to move back and forth between the events at Camp Green Lake, the story of Elya Yelnats in Latvia, and the stories of pre-drought Green Lake. The combination of stories creates the feeling that fate is at work, molding Stanley’s destiny. The historic scenes are narrated like fables. The modern day scenes are narrated in light of Stanley’s thoughts and actions. The narrator seems to know more than he shares with the reader and uses irony and dark humor to make his point, occasionally addressing the reader directly to make the reader form inferences before the facts are completely clear.

MOOD Stanley does not know where the sneakers came from or what will happen to him at Camp Green Lake, but he must endure that miscarriage of justice. Zero submits to taunting and cruelty from people who do not know how smart he is or why he is so quiet. Elya Yelnats does not realize how empty headed the girl he fell for is and it devastates him. Katherine Barlow does not know how severely the townspeople will react to the kiss, but the results are disastrous. In each instance, the way other people behave is a source of bewilderment and then suffering. The shifting of time frames used by the author intensifies this mood, as the reader always has more information than the characters. There is a mood of hardship and confusion in Holes. The characters are often struggling with issues of which they do not have full knowledge.

SYMBOLISM / MOTIFS / SYMBOLS
Holes The holes symbolize the negative aspects of Camp Green Lake. They are referred to as graves several times in the novel. In the holes lurk rattlesnakes, scorpions and deadly yellow-spotted lizards. The boys who dig them resent the holes as the emblem of their punishment, and spit in them. Stanley finds that the holes lead right up to the Warden’s cabin. A hole is Stanley’s undoing when he tries to take the water truck to rescue Zero. Metaphorically, all the holes must be filled in for the story to resolve itself into a happy ending. Onions Sam’s onions are a symbol of everything good. Significantly, they grow where the “water runs uphill.” Whenever the narrative flashes back to a tale about the onions there is healing and good will. In addition to being a positive force in the past, the onions become key to Stanley and Zero’s survival in the present. They provide sustenance, cure Zero’s food poisoning, and keep Stanley and Zero alive among the yellow-spotted lizards until the lawyer and the Attorney General arrive to free them.

SYMBOLISM / MOTIFS / SYMBOLS Contd.
Landscape A motif, or idea that recurs throughout Holes, is how the landscape affects the characters at Camp Green Lake. The longer the characters are out on the lakebed, the more prone to violence they become. After prolonged digging in the unrelenting heat, the Warden jabs Armpit with a pitchfork and Zigzag strikes Stanley with a shovel (see Ch. 17). The tough, harsh surroundings become a metaphor for the personality traits of the characters. Conversely, when Stanley is away from the desert, in the cool, green shadow of “God’ thumb,” he is relaxed and happy. The relative abundance on the mountain nurtures the generosity of spirit that Stanley and Zero share.

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES & ANALYSIS Page numbers are from the hardcover edition, eighth printing 1999 1) “There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.” (p. 3) This is the opening line of the novel. It immediately sets a mood of hardship and confusion and starts right in with the irony that permeates the novel. 2 ) “If only, if only,” the woodpecker sighs, “The bark on the tree was just a little bit softer.” hile the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, He cries to the moo-oo-oon, “If only, if only.” (p. 8) This is Stanley’s father’s song, one of three versions of the pig lullaby Madame Zeroni taught Elya Yelnats. The wishful thinking, defeated attitude of the song is fitting for a family that has experienced hardship and bad luck - especially for a family that believes they have been cursed. 3) “Nearly everything in the room was broken; the TV, the pinball machine, the furniture. Even the people looked broken, with their worn out bodies sprawled over the various chairs and sofas.” (p.43) This is Stanley’s view of the “wreck room” at Camp Green Lake. It is the one place the boys are allowed to relax somewhat and they have trashed it. The inhumanity of the camp has possessed the boys. Stanley sees this room as a reminder that the boys have the capacity for violence, and he does not want to cross them.

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES & ANALYSIS Contd.
4) “He needed to save his energy for the people who counted.” (p.82) After turning down Zero’s first request that Stanley teach him how to read, Stanley tries to justify his decision. This quote shows that Stanley has begun to buy in to the negative opinion of Zero that the others at Camp Green Lake express. His heart is hardening. However, he will later reconsider and become friends with Zero. 5) “He’s not going to die,” the Warden said, “Unfortunately for you.” (p.91) The Warden threatens Stanley with the prospect that Mr. Sir will take revenge against Stanley, since Stanley is the one who put Mr. Sir into a position to be scratched with the Warden’s rattlesnake fingernails. Stanley has learned, contrary to what Mr. Sir told him upon arriving at Camp Green Lake, that the people could be more dangerous than the desert. 6) “You make the decision: Whom did God punish?” (p. 115) Here the narrator addresses the reader directly. He poses a question to make the point that fate does not necessarily do what people say, but what destiny dictates. The drought did not hurt Katherine Barlow, rather nature turned against the townspeople of Green Lake because of their racism and violence.

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES & ANALYSIS Contd.
7) “If I had just kept those old smelly sneakers, then neither of us would be here right now.” (p. 184) Zero, thinking that he is the cause of the boys’ predicament on “God’s thumb,” laments that it could all have been avoided if he didn’t take off Clyde Livingston’s sneakers. However, his statement really sums up the whole theme of fate. The boys were destined to be together on the mountain so that Elya Yelnats’ promise to Madame Zeroni could be fulfilled. 8) “If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply; Reflecting the sun and all that’s gone by. Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly. Fly high my baby bird, My angel, my only.” (P. 233) The novel ends with Hector Zeroni’s mother singing a more hopeful version of the pig lullaby. Unlike the wishful thinking Yelnats version, the Zeroni version is a mother’s love song encouraging her child to use the past to move boldly into the future.

Chapter Summaries with Notes Part One: You Are Entering Camp Green Lake

KEY FACTS SUMMARY Themes Title/Author Setting Mood Point of View
The impact of fate and history on everyday life; the power of friendship; compassion for victims of social injustice Mood Hardship and Confusion Point of View Omniscient narrator Symbolism Onions symbolize good things; holes symbolize negatives Motif The landscape acts as a metaphor for the personality traits of the characters. Names The desired perception of the characters is achieved by having dual names. Title/Author Holes by Louis Sachar Setting Camp Green Lake juvenile detention center in Texas in the late 1990s; with flashbacks to Green Lake one hundred years ago and to Latvia in the mid-1800s Major Characters Stanley Yelnats and Hector “Zero” Zeroni, two inmates at Camp Green Lake Conflict Stanley struggles to survive and eventually prevail over the severe people and conditions at Camp Green Lake, and in the process breaks the family curse.

Chapter 1 Summary The scene of the ominous Camp Green Lake is set. It is a desert, not a lake at all. There is no shade except over the Warden’s hammock. “The Warden owns the shade.” There are rattlesnakes and scorpions that occupy holes dugs by the campers. But most disturbing are the deadly yellow-spotted lizards. If one bites you, “There is nothing anyone can do to you anymore.” Notes “There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.” The opening sentence of the story immediately sets a dark mood, and then the hazards of nature are described. With this first irony of the novel, the reader senses that Camp Green Lake is indeed a dismal place. In two short pages the anxiety builds to hopelessness and the reader wonders why anyone would go to Camp Green Lake.

CHAPTER 2 Summary The reason “campers” go to Camp Green Lake is made clear. It is a detention center for boys. As punishment each boy must dig a hole every day in the desert heat. Supposedly their labor will turn a “bad boy” into a “good boy.” Stanley Yelnats, a fifteen-year-old boy from a poor family, chose Camp Green Lake over going to jail. He thought it would be like a summer camp, something he had never before had the opportunity to experience Notes --The protagonist, Stanley Yelnats, is introduced in this brief (9 sentences) chapter and the reader is let in on the second bit of irony: Camp Green Lake is not a camp. Though concise, this chapter introduces the pacing method the author uses throughout the novel. He gives the reader partial answers or small hints each step of the way, but at the same time plants new questions in the reader’s mind.

CHAPTER 3 Summary Stanley rides the unairconditioned bus to Camp Green Lake handcuffed to the armrest. The bus driver and a guard with a rifle are the only other people on the bus. Stanley tries to pretend that he is going to Camp Fun and Games, a place he had imagined while playing with his stuffed animals when he was younger. At home Stanley had been friendless and ridiculed, even by his teachers who unwittingly could embarrass him about his weight - like the time when Mrs. Bell’s lesson on ratios found Stanley three times heavier than another boy. Stanley is a good kid and is actually innocent of the crime for which he is being sent to Camp Green Lake. As is the joke in his family, Stanley blames his misfortune on his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. His great -great-grandfather had reportedly stolen a pig from a one-legged gypsy and brought a curse down upon the family forever.

CHAPTER 3 Summary Contd. As Stanley remembers his family, he remembers a song his father had sung to him: “If only, if only,” the woodpecker sighs, “The bark on the tree was just a little bit softer.” While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, He cries to the moo-oo-oon, “If only, if only.” Stanley’s father was Stanley Yelnats III, making the Stanley in the novel Stanley Yelnats IV. The family liked the palindromic effect of naming their only sons Stanley. Stanley’s father was an unsuccessful inventor, looking for a use for old sneakers. Stanley’s great-grandfather, Stanley Yelnats I, made money in the stock market, but was robbed of everything and left stranded in the desert by the outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow. Unfortunately all of the Stanleys to date had bad luck, though they always remained hopeful. Upon arriving at Camp Green Lake, Stanley notes, “hardly anything was green.”

Chapter 3 Summary Contd. Notes
Here we learn that Stanley is not popular, was wrongfully convicted, and seems to be following the pattern of bad luck set by the Stanley Yelnatses before him. Three stories within the main story are introduced, each seeming to echo the failure and wishful thinking of Stanley’s father’s song. Just enough information is given for the reader to wonder how Stanley’s family history will play into Stanley’s current predicament. At the chapter’s end, the third and last irony of the misnomer, “Camp Green Lake” is observed through Stanley’s eyes.

CHAPTER 4 Summary The guard leads Stanley out of the bus into an air-conditioned building. There, Stanley meets the tattooed, sunflower seed eating Mr. Sir. The bus driver, the guard and Mr. Sir have sodas. Stanley hopes there will be one for him. No such luck. Mr. Sir is stern and seems fond of pointing out to Stanley that Camp Green Lake is not for Girl Scouts. He explains that Stanley will have two sets of orange clothing, a T-shirt and a jumpsuit that will be laundered, alternately, every three days. Stanley is also given a hat with a cloth flap for neck protection. Mr. Sir describes the routine of having breakfast at 4:30 a.m., then going into the desert to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet across, every day. He laughingly points out to Stanley that there are no guard towers or fences, only the fatal heat of the desert to prevent escape. Then, mockingly, Mr. Sir tells Stanley to get used to being thirsty, as that is how it will be for the next eighteen months.

Stanley’s life will be hard at Camp Green Lake but Stanley is soft, as evidenced by the fact that he actually feels sorry for the guard and the bus driver who have to endure the scorching trip to Camp Green Lake and back. Now Stanley faces the cruel, strict authority of Mr. Sir, and the menacing environment of the desert. In addition to the curse of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, both man and nature are against Stanley.

CHAPTER 5 Summary Stanley is assigned to D tent. There he meets Mr. Pendanski, his counselor. Mr. Pendanski is not as threatening as Mr. Sir. He seems to have the good intention of genuinely helping the boys at Camp Green Lake. As the other boys from D tent return, tired and dirty from digging their holes, Mr. Pendanski introduces them to Stanley. The boys like to be called by unseemly nicknames, Armpit, Squid, X-Ray, Magnet, Zigzag and Zero, but Mr. Pendanski refers to them by their real names. That is, all except Zero, who Mr. Pendanski says is a zero and has “nothing inside his head.” The counselor either does not realize how cruel his comment is or else really believes it is true. The boys refer to Mr. Pendanski as “mom.”

Chapter 5 Summary Contd. Stanley is assigned to a cot formerly occupied by a boy called Barf Bag who Mr. Pendanski explains is in the hospital and will not be returning. As the counselor and the other boys leave the tent, Stanley asks Theodore where to get water. Theodore turns on Stanley threateningly, throws Stanley to the ground and insists on being called Armpit. He tells Stanley that there is a spigot in the shower stall. After Armpit leaves, Stanley thinks that if Armpit is so proud of that name, maybe the nicknames are terms of respect, and it will not be so bad to sleep on a cot that belonged to a Barf Bag.

The Yelnats hopefulness resurfaces in this chapter as Stanley is given a place that will be his home for the next year and a half. Mr. Pendanski is a sharp contrast to the stern Mr. Sir and seems to deserve his nickname, “mom.” However, his comment about Zero tells us that Mr. Pendanski has the potential to be mean spirited.

CHAPTER 6 Summary Stanley takes the Camp Green Lake version of a shower - four minutes of cold water with an automatic shut off. He eats brown food for dinner - some kind of meat and vegetables. He tells the other boys that he was arrested for stealing Clyde Livingston’s sneakers. The boys do not believe him. Clyde Livingston is a famous baseball player. He testified in court that the stolen sneakers had been his and he had donated them for an auction to raise money for the homeless shelter where he once lived. Stanley felt bad that his sports hero thought him a thief.

Chapter 6 Summary Contd. What had actually happened was that Stanley had missed the bus home from school because a boy named Derrick Dunne, who was smaller than Stanley, had taken Stanley’s notebook and dropped it in the toilet in the boy’s bathroom. So Stanley had to walk home. On his way home, the sneakers fell from the sky and hit Stanley o the head. They had really fallen from an overpass, but Stanley did not realize that, nor did he know the sneakers belonged to Clyde Livingston. Stanley just knew the sneakers smelled horribly and that they represented his destiny. It had to be more than a coincidence that his father was working with old sneakers and a pair of old sneakers fell on Stanley. He was arrested quickly but his trial did not come for several months because of baseball season. Stanley told the truth in court but, of course, no one believed that sneakers could fall from the sky. Stanley no longer believed the sneakers were “destiny’s shoes.” He was just cursed by his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.

The ironic tone of the novel is exemplified by the false impressions people have of Stanley. The staff at Camp Green Lake does not believe Stanley is innocent. The boys of D tent do not believe he was arrested for stealing Clyde Livingston’s shoes. His teachers do not believe that Derrick, being smaller than Stanley, could bully Stanley. The judge did not believe the sneakers fell on Stanley’s head. Thus Stanley finds himself in his present situation feeling the brunt of the family curse.

CHAPTER 7 Summary In the predawn hours Stanley attempts to dig his first hole but the ground is too hard. The hole will have to be as deep and as wide as the five-foot shovel, and he is to report finding anything “interesting or unusual.” Taking advantage of his overweight, Stanley manages to break through the surface and unearth his first shovelful. He is already feeling defeated but continues digging.

Chapter 7 Summary Contd. Here the story is interrupted by a flashback to Stanley’s great-great-grandfather, Elya Yelnats, in Latvia. Elya was fifteen and wanted to marry Myra Menke, a beautiful but shallow girl. Myra’s father would have Myra marry the fifty-seven-year-old Igor Barkov in exchange for a fatted pig. Elya had nothing but his love to exchange for Myra’s hand so he sought help from his friend, an old, onefooted, wide-mouthed Egyptian woman, Madame Zeroni. She advised Elya to forget about Myra and go to America like her son did. Elya saw only Myra’s beauty and wanted a pig. So, Madame Zeroni instructed Elya to carry her runt piglet up a mountain where the water runs uphill and as the piglet drank, sing a special song to him. Elya would become stronger as the piglet became heavier and in the end would be able to out compete Igor Barkov and win Myra. Eventually, Elya was to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain, allow her to drink, and sing the special song to her. Madame Zeroni explained that if Elya did not complete this last task, his family would be cursed forever.

Chapter 7 Summary Contd. Dizzy from the heat, with his hands badly blistered, Stanley continues digging. Mr. Sir arrives in a pickup truck with a tank of water to refill the boys’ canteens. The boys line up for water in an unexplained rank order. X-Ray is first; Stanley is last, behind Zero. Mr. Sir reminds Stanley that this isn’t the Girl Scouts and warns Stanley that he had better hurry his digging because the day will keep getting hotter. Mr. Sir spits sunflower shells into Stanley’s hole. Elya faithfully carried the piglet up the mountain and sang as it drank. On Myra’s fifteenth birthday he was to carry the pig, now quite large, up the mountain one last time. But he wanted to present himself to Myra without smelling of pig, so he did not go. He and Igor presented their pigs to Myra’s father. The pigs were exactly the same weight. Stanley continues digging, tearing open his blisters. He realizes the piles of dirt he has dug up are in the way of completing his hole. Grudgingly, he shovels away the piles.

Chapter 7 Summary Contd. Being pleased with the fine pigs, Myra’s father, who could not decide between the two suitors, took Elya’s suggestion to let Myra decide. Myra asked each man to pick a number between one and ten. Crushed, Elya left his pig as a gift and told Myra to marry Igor. Mr. Pendanski now drives the water truck and brings bag lunches for the boys. While eating, Magnet tells the exhausted Stanley that the first hole is the hardest. He also cautions Stanley to make sure nothing is living in any hole Stanley might choose to use as a restroom. Miserable, Elya left Myra’s house and signed on as a deck hand on a ship to America. As the ship departed, Elya remembered his promise to Madame Zeroni. He did not believe in the curse, but felt bad that he had let her down.

Chapter 7 Summary Contd. Zero finishes his hole first, silently pulls himself out of his hole, spits in it and walks back to the camp. Armpit finishes next, spits into his hole and walks back. Stanley continues digging as he watches each boy spit and leave. He realizes that he will have to move his dirt piles away from his hole again. His cap, which he is using to protect his blistered hands, is now bloodstained. “He felt like he was digging his own grave.” Elya learned to speak English and got married. He tried to find Madame Zeroni’s son in America but could not. His barn was struck by lightning three times and he told his wife she should leave him and find a better man. She refused, bore him a child that she named Stanley, and changed the pig lullaby into a song for their son. As Stanley finally finishes his hole, he hears the water truck coming. He is spent and is unable to pull himself out of his hole. Mr. Pendanski calls for him and Stanley manages to climb out. Stanley reuses a ride back to camp, proudly spits in his hole and walks.

This is the longest chapter in the novel, continuously rocking back and forth between Stanley’s story and Elya’s story. Like Stanley, Elya was not actually a thief, but a disillusioned fifteen-year-old. Though the family sees Stanley’s great-great-grandfather as a no good pig stealer, the reader now knows that he was a heartbroken young man who made an unintentional mistake. Like Stanley he has been misjudged and unfairly punished. In a fable-like manner, Elya’s story introduces the three themes of Holes - the impact of fate and history on everyday life, the value of friendship, and the compassion for victims of social injustice that we gain from not judging people based on first impressions.

CHAPTER 8 Summary This chapter describes in detail the deadly yellow-spotted lizards. They have yellow-green bodies with yellow spots, yellow eyes encircled in red, black teeth and white tongues. They live in holes, eating small animals, insects, cactus thorns and Mr. Sir’s sunflower seeds. Notes Again, because of a little bit of information, curiosity is aroused. The reader knows that the lizards are fatal and wonders when the combination of holes and sunflower seeds will cause the lizards to affect one of the characters.

CHAPTER 9 Summary Stanley showers without soap, dresses in his clean orange clothes, saving the dirty ones, and heads to the “wreck room.” The other boys from Group D are there and when Stanley trips over a large boy they come to Stanley’s rescue. They comment that Caveman is a tough guy that should not be messed with. Stanley is relieved that he completed his first hole, the hardest one. X-Ray corrects him saying that the second hole is the hardest because you are already tired and sore and “the fun’s gone.” Stanley did not want to disagree with X-Ray. When the other boys leave to play pool Stanley begins writing a letter to his mother. He writes as if he had been out on a real lake all day and would be participating in water sports. Zero is staring angrily at the letter over Stanley’s shoulder. He abruptly asks Stanley if the stolen sneakers had red X’s on them. Stanley wonders how Zero would have known that. The other boys call Caveman to dinner and Stanley realizes they are talking to him.

Everything in the “wreck room” is reminiscent of the surface of the lakebed. The pool table, the wall, the TV, the couch, everything has holes. The boys have done this. Small, with thick glasses, the boy ironically called X-Ray is the leader and bully of the group. Stanley, who is the biggest, is weak. As happened with Derrick Dunne, being a bully has nothing to do with size. At first Stanley does not realize that the powerful sounding name Caveman refers to him and his size. He responds to it with his trademark shoulder shrug thinking to himself the name is “better than Barf Bag.”

CHAPTER 10 Summary Stanley wakes up early, sore and resenting the sun. Back on the lake he begins his second hole, trying to avoid putting pressure on his blisters and being careful to pile his dirt far away from what will be the perimeter of his hole. He protects his hands with his cap, at least until the sun comes up, and saves some of the water in his canteen. He finds a rock with a fossilized fish in it and slacks off on his digging thinking that the fossil will qualify as something interesting to report and he will be given the rest of the day off. When Mr. Pendanski arrives with the water truck the boys line up in their predetermined order. At the end of the line is Stanley who shows Mr. Pendanski the fossil. Mr. Pendanski fills Stanley’s canteen, laughs and tells Stanley the Warden is not interested in fossils. The other boys pass the rock around. Notes Upon finding the fossil, Stanley displays the Yelnats ability to remain hopeful. Mr. Pendanski’s potential toward cruelty is again suggested when he laughs at Stanley’s hopeful expectation for getting the rest of the day off.

CHAPTER 11 Summary Stanley resumes digging but is interrupted by X-Ray (pig latin for Rex, his real name) who tell Stanley to give any interesting finds to him. Since X-Ray is the leader of the group and Stanley needs his approval, Stanley agrees. As he continues to dig, Stanley wonders how X-Ray, who is the smallest boy except for Zero, became the leader. He realizes that he himself is the biggest of the boys and is glad that they have shown their acceptance by giving him a nickname. Stanley eased the pain of digging by imagining over and over again that he had become good friends with the boys from Group D and that they came to school and beat up Stanley’s tormentor, Derrick Dunne. Notes Stanley knows that the boys at Camp Green Lake are capable of violence as evidenced by the condition of the wreck room (see Ch. 9). He therefore complies with X-Rays request to turn over anything “interesting” Stanley might find while digging. Stanley wants to be accepted, but he realizes that these boys are tougher than even his old nemesis Derrick, and uses the imagined fight to redirect his pain.

CHAPTER 12 Summary When Stanley returns to the camp after finishing his second hole, he finds the other boys counseling with Mr. Pendanski. X-Ray needles Stanley telling him that the third hole will be the hardest. Stanley joins the group as they discuss what each boy wants to do as a career. Mr. Pendanski points out that Stanley is at Camp Green Lake because of one person, implying that that person is Stanley. When Stanley responds that the person is his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, the other boys roar with laughter. For the first time, even Zero smiles a wide smile. Mr. Pendanski continues to advise the boys that they must be responsible for the future. “Even you, Zero. You’re not completely worthless.” Zero stops smiling and stares angrily at Mr. Pendanski saying, “I like to dig holes.” Notes The two sides of Mr. Pendanski come through clearly. He can be a genuinely concerned advisor, yet he shows total disrespect and insensitivity to Zero.

CHAPTER 13 Summary Stanley discovers that X-Ray was right about the third hole being the hardest. Then the fourth hole is the hardest, and each subsequent hole after that. Stanley becomes thinner and his hands get tougher. He has lost track of how many holes he has dug. He uncovers a small gold tube with the initials KB engraved inside of a heart. He reluctantly gives it to X-Ray and suggests that XRay wait until the next day to report it so that X-Ray can get the whole day off. When the water truck arrives, X-Ray moves Stanley up one place in line, ahead of Zero. Notes Though Stanley considers keeping his find, he decides it is best not to cross X-Ray, and to avoid the as yet unseen Warden. His new place in line symbolizes his advancement in the seemingly arbitrary hierarchy of the boys in Group D.

CHAPTER 14 Summary Stanley feels sorry for himself. The one time he is lucky (finding the gold tube) he will not get credit. At breakfast he asks X-Ray if he has “it.” X-Ray rudely replies that he doesn’t know what Stanley is talking about. While digging Stanley wonders why X-Ray snapped at him. When the water truck comes X-Ray does not mention the tube. Then, at the last instant, before Mr. Pendanski leaves, X-Ray shouts from his hole that he has found something. Mr. Pendanski says that the Warden will be pleased and leaves. Shortly, Mr. Pendanski returns with the Warden, a red-haired, freckled woman in a black cowboy hat and turquoise studded boots. She gives X-Ray the day off and tells Mr. Pendanski to fill the other boys’ canteens. She is angered when he replies that he has just filled them. She calls Caveman over to show Mr. Pendanski that there is room for more water in the canteen. Stanley wonders how she knows his nickname. The Warden admonishes Mr. Pendanski for questioning her and threatens to make him dig holes. Notes The Warden and X-Ray use the same approach to maintain authority - rewards and threats. She rewarded X-Ray with the day off the same way X-Ray rewarded Stanley with advancement in the line. Like X-Ray, she achieves loyalty because others fear her.

CHAPTER 15 Summary X-Ray is driven back to the camp and Mr. Pendanski is instructed to return with three wheelbarrows. Calling the remaining boys by their nicknames, the Warden pairs them up, one to continue digging and one to sift through the excavated dirt and load it into a wheelbarrow. She offers the day off and a double shower to anyone who finds something. The canteens are continuously refilled. The Warden stays and watches the dig nervously. Finally, she calls it a day and leaves. Zigzag explains to Stanley that there are tiny hidden cameras all over the camp Stanley realizes that that is how the Warden knew his nickname, and that is why X-Ray snubbed him that morning. He also realizes they are not digging to “build character” but to find something specific. He knows they are digging in the wrong place and memorizes the location of the hole where he had actually found the gold tube the day before. Notes The Warden has absolute power and bestows privileges at her own discretion. She has the boys team up and provides them with water and the promise of rewards because she believes they will find what she is after. The novel now becomes a puzzle as the reader wonders what the significance the initialed gold tube has and how the knowledge of the true location of its burial will affect Stanley.

CHAPTER 16 Summary All the boys are exhausted at the end of the day except X-Ray. The next day, accompanied by the Warden, the boys continue digging and wheelbarrowing. As he works, Stanley thinks about the gold tube and tries to figure out what the initials KB might be. The Warden becomes impatient and threatens to make Mr. Sir dig if he does not make the boys work faster. Mr. Sir reminds the boys they are not in the Girl Scouts. Group D works later than any other group. That evening, while considering telling the Warden the truth, Stanley receives a letter from his mother. The other boys start to tease him but X-Ray calls them off. When the boys leave Stanley reads the letter. His mother writes that she is proud Stanley is doing well at camp and that the family may be evicted because of the foul sneaker smell from his father’s experiments. She quips about the old lady who lived in a shoe. Once again, Zero is looking over Stanley’s shoulder. Stanley tries to explain his mother’s joke but Zero appears to have no knowledge of nursery rhymes. Notes The system of rewards and threats persists. The boys are not accomplishing the Warden’s goal so she becomes threatening, thus maintaining her absolute authority. X-Ray rewards Stanley by making room for Stanley on the couch and sticking up for Stanley when teased about his mother’s letter. The reader is given no additional information about the engraved gold tube. But we learn a little more about Zero and now wonder what is behind his blank stares.

CHAPTER 17 Summary The boys continue to dig around the hole where X-Ray had “found” the gold tube for the next week and a half. The Warden becomes impatient and irritable to the point of jabbing Armpit with a pitchfork, drawing blood. The boys are also irritable. Zigzag strikes Stanley in the head with his shovel accusing Stanley of adding dirt where Zigzag has to dig. Stanley’s large gash is bleeding. Mr. Sir tapes a piece of his sunflower seed sack over it and tells Stanley to keep digging. Stanley removes “his” dirt from on top of Zigzag’s dirt. Notes The Warden’s capacity for cruelty seems to be growing. This cruelty is echoed in Zigzag’s unapologetic response to Stanley’s injury. Stanley, however, has hardened and is none the worse after the incident. The longer people are exposed to the inhuman desert conditions, the more inhuman they become.

CHAPTER 18 Summary The next day the boys are back to the routine of digging their holes in a different part of the lake. Stanley is relived that the task is once again finite and he does not have the Warden or the other boys swing shovels close by. He is stronger now and can almost keep pace with the other boys’ digging. Back in the camp Stanley showers and begins to write another encouraging, though not factual, letter to his mother. Again, Zero is over his shoulder. At first Stanley did not care. He has bought into the idea that Zero is worthless. When he tells Zero not to read over his shoulder Zero tells Stanley that he does not know how to read. Stanley is cold toward Zero and refuses Zero’s request that Stanley teach him to read. Stanley feels he needs to “save his energy for the people who counted.” He sealed his letter with his tongue that is now always thirsty. Notes Stanley’s uncharacteristic coldness shows that he has toughened both physically and emotionally. The cruelty around him seems to have been contagious. He has hardened, like the parched lakebed.

CHAPTER 19 Summary In the middle of the night Stanley hears Squid crying. When he speaks to Squid about it Squid threatens to break Stanley’s jaw. Out on the lake Mr. Sir comes and fills the boys’ canteens. After he leaves, Magnet calls to the other boys because he has stolen Mr. Sir’s sunflower seeds. The boys toss the sack around to share. When it comes to Stanley the seeds spill out into his hole. The boys see Mr. Sir returning as Stanley tries to bury the seeds. Mr. Sir goes from hole to hole and sees the seeds at the bottom of Stanley’s hole. Stanley confesses that he stole the seeds from Mr. Sir’s truck and ate them all himself. The other boys go along with the story. Mr. Sir and Stanley get into the truck to go speak with the Warden. Amazingly, Stanley actually feels good in the comfortable truck, out of the sun, with the wind on his face. Notes Stanley exhibits his newfound toughness by taking the blame for stealing and eating the sunflower seeds. It is unclear whether his brave deed is an attempt to cover for his friends or just Stanley’s way of giving in to being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

CHAPTER 20 Summary Stanley walks toward the Warden’s cabin, enjoying the shade of the two oak trees but feeling like a condemned man. There are holes all the way up to the cabin. Stanley confesses to the Warden about the sunflower seeds. Mr. Sir says he thinks Stanley is trying to cover for one of the other boys. The Warden sends Stanley into her dressing room to fetch a makeup case. From among the lipstick and other contents she takes out a bottle of red nail polish that is mixed with rattlesnake venom. She explains that it is harmless when dry, but toxic when wet. She paints her nails and slaps Mr. Sir leaving burning red streaks where his face is scratched. Mr. Sir lay screaming on the floor as Stanley left. The Warden sneered that it was unfortunate for Stanley that Mr. Sir would not die. Notes The Warden epitomizes cruelty. She has seriously injured Mr. Sir and sneers that it will ultimately affect Stanley. The reader wonders how and if Mr. Sir will seek revenge against Stanley or if his fear of the Warden will keep him in line.

CHAPTER 21 Summary As Stanley walks back to his hole he thinks about his great grandfather, the pig-stealer’s son, who had spent seventeen days lost in the desert after being robbed by Kissin’ Kate Barlow. He was rescued, claiming he had “found refuge on God’s thumb,” was sent to a hospital, and married one of the nurses. Stanley’s thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a rattlesnake. Stanley backs away and runs. When he reaches the spot where Group D is digging he sees that Zero has nearly finished his hole for him. Notes Stanley relates to the stranded feeling his great-grandfather must have had in the desert. The great-grandfather’s bad luck, however, ended up putting him in the right place at the right time to meet his wife. Similarly, Stanley’s great-great-grandfather’s problems set him up to meet his wife. The role of fate in everyday life is illustrated again

CHAPTER 22 Summary At the camp, the other boys tease Zero about why he likes to dig so much. Stanley waits until he and Zero are alone to thank him for digging his hole and to ask why Zero helped him. Zero replies that Stanley did not steal the sunflower seeds, and he did not steal the sneakers either. Stanley offers to teach Zero how to read. Zero smiles a wide-mouthed smile. Stanley is impressed at how smart Zero is both in memorization and in math. In return for the lessons, Zero offers to dig Stanley’s hole for an hour each day. In closing, Zero tells Stanley, “I’m not stupid, I know everybody thinks I am. I just don’t like answering their questions.” Later, while in bed, Stanley is thinking over the deal he made with Zero, worrying about X-Ray’s disapproval. As he tries to sleep the memory of his experience in the Warden’s cabin drifts around in his head. Suddenly remembering the makeup case, he realizes that the gold tube he had found is the top from a lipstick, and the KB inscribed on it could mean Kate Barlow.

Chapter 21 NOTES Notes In contrast to the reward and threat relationships encountered thus far at Camp Green Lake, Stanley and Zero begin to establish a connection based on mutual benefit. This arrangement with Zero would not have come about if Stanley had not been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the sunflower seeds. That incident gave Zero a reason to do Stanley a favor, allowing Stanley to reconsider the coldness with which he had treated Zero earlier. In addition, the sunflower seed incident led Stanley into the Warden’s cabin where he saw lipstick and was thereby able to identify the gold tube he had found. Once again, fate enters in, suggesting a plan behind Stanley’s bad luck.

CHAPTER 23 Summary Green Lake was actually a lake over one hundred years ago. Each year Miss Katherine Barlow would pick peaches from the trees that lined the shore, and preserve them in jars with spices. She always won prizes for her recipe at the annual Fourth of July town picnic. Katherine taught school in a broken down schoolhouse. She was smart and beautiful. The town children loved her, and so did the young men. One man, Charles Walker, who had earned the nickname Trout because of his awful foot odor (he had the same foot fungus that would plague Clyde Livingston generations later), tried to court Miss Barlow. He was rich, but inconsiderate, arrogant and stupid, so Katherine turned him down, much to his chagrin. Notes Katherine Barlow is described as a sweet, lively schoolteacher. The reader wonders what must have happened to change her into an outlaw. Being told that she lived near Green Lake gives the reader more information than Stanley has. We have background on the stories of both Stanley’s great-great-grandfather the pig-stealer, and his great-grandfather who was robbed by Kate Barlow, possibly in the same area where Camp Green Lake now stands. The question arises, how does this information fit into Stanley’s story?

CHAPTER 24 Summary In the morning Stanley sees Mr. Sir whose face is badly swollen from the Warden’s scratches. When one boy asks Mr. Sir what happened, Mr. Sir grabs him by the throat smashing him into an oatmeal pot. Out on the lake Stanley does not dare talk to the other boys about what happened to Mr. Sir. When Mr. Sir comes to fill the boys’ canteens he runs the water on to the dry ground rather than fill Stanley’s. Notes The tension is building between Stanley and Mr. Sir. Though nothing threatening is said, Stanley’s situation has worsened.

CHAPTERS Summary Sam the onion man rowed his homemade boat across the Green Lake of one hundred years ago with his donkey, Mary Lou. He sold onions that seem to have incredible medicinal powers, curing everything from asthma to baldness. Sam was a Negro, so he was not allowed to attend Miss Katherine Barlow’s school, but she talked him into making repair after repair on the old schoolhouse so they could spend time together. She paid him with jars of spiced peaches. She read him poetry, some of which he already knew by heart. He told her of his onion fields across the lake where the water runs uphill. One rainy evening when there was nothing left to repair, Sam kissed Katherine. They were seen by a woman from the town who said, “God will punish you!” Soon the whole town knew that the schoolteacher had kissed the onion man. Trout Walker led an angry mob into the schoolhouse where they tore things apart and set fire to the books. Katherine escaped and ran to the sheriff. He was drunk and told Katherine that Sam would be hung for kissing a white woman, and that God would punish her. He offered Katherine a deal, “One sweet kiss, and I won’t hang your boyfriend. I’ll just run him out of town.”

CHAPTERS 25 - 26 Summary Contd.
Katherine jerked herself free and ran out to find Sam. She and Sam tried to escape in Sam’s rowboat, leaving Mary Lou behind. Trout Walker came after them in his motorboat, smashed into Sam’s boat, shot Sam, and brought Katherine back to the shore where she found Mary Lou shot in the head. That is when it stopped raining forever at Green Lake. “You make the decision: Whom did God punish?” A few days later Miss Katherine Barlow went back and shot the sheriff, then kissed him leaving a red lipstick print. She would be the fearsome Kissin’ Kate Barlow for the next twenty years. Notes Knowing the whole story, the reader does not find Kate Barlow so reprehensible. Though she has done wrong we sympathize with her, as we did with Stanley’s great-great-grandfather, because her acts were provoked by such cruelty. Sam’s reference to water that runs uphill, reminiscent of Madame Zeroni’s mountain, introduces another question, another missing puzzle piece, into the reader’s mind.

CHAPTER 27 Summary For days Mr. Sir has been pouring Stanley’s water onto the ground, so Stanley now conserves his water as he digs. It helps that Zero digs part of Stanley’s hole, but the other boys are angry about this and do not understand that Stanley is “saving his energy” to teach Zero how to read. When Mr. Sir comes with the water truck again, he fills Stanley’s canteen and then takes it to the far side of the truck and does something unseen before returning it to Stanley. Later while digging, Stanley pours his canteen out without drinking, afraid of what Mr. Sir might have put in it. Stanley finishes teaching the quick-learning Zero how to write the letters of the alphabet. He teaches Zero how to write his name. Zero tells Stanley that his real name is Hector Zeroni. Notes Though Stanley and Zero are unaware of it, the reader now knows that Zero, Hector Zeroni, is a descendant of Madame Zeroni, the gypsy that helped and may have cursed Stanley’s great-great-grandfather. (The astute reader may have already guessed this because of the resemblance between Zero and Madame Zeroni. Both have round faces and wide-mouthed smiles.) Again the reader is given more information, but not enough to see how the pieces fit together.

CHAPTER 28 Summary Kate Barlow, who had become a little crazy, returned to Green Lake after twenty years. The lake had almost completely dried up. All that remained of the town was a small cabin near two oak trees. Kate lived in the cabin remembering and sometimes imagining Sam’s presence. She wished she were dead. After a few months, Trout Walker came and kicked down her door. He had with him a gun and a red-haired woman who had married him for his money, which had “dried up with the lake.” They brutally demanded that Kate lead them to where she had buried her treasure. Kate walked outside barefoot, leaving her turquoise-studded boots inside, and zigzagged around the vast wasteland leading Trout and his wife nowhere. She was bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard and told Trout and his screeching wife to go ahead and dig. “Kate Barlow died laughing.” Notes Stanley’s link with history is becoming clear. He is digging in the exact area where Kissin’ Kate Barlow buried her treasure, and is under the control of the apparent granddaughter of Trout Walker. The Warden has inherited her cruel, demanding personality from Trout, and her turquoise-studded boots and red hair from Trout Walker’s wife. The story is still a puzzle though because it is not yet known why Stanley is digging alongside a descendant of Madame Zeroni.

CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND NOTES
PART TWO - The Last Hole

CHAPTER 29 Summary It becomes even hotter at Camp Green Lake because of the humidity from the thunderstorms in the distant mountains. To Stanley it appears that lightning is coming out of a huge, distant rock formation that resembles a fist with the thumb sticking up, “as if it were the thumb of God.” Notes Here is one more piece of the puzzle. Stanley is digging near the place where Kissin’ Kate Barlow robbed his great-grandfather who survived the desert by finding “refuge on God’s thumb.”

CHAPTER 30 Summary As Stanley digs he ponders “God’s thumb” thinking he must be near where his great-grandfather was robbed. He wonders if the lipstick tube he found was really Kate Barlow’s. It comes time for Zero to dig part of Stanley’s hole and the other boys sarcastically taunt Stanley about having a slave. When Mr. Pendanski arrives with the water truck the boys force Stanley to the front of the line accusing him of being better than they are. The taunting leads to a pushing fight with Zigzag, though Stanley does not push back. Mr. Pendanski intervenes encouraging Stanley to hit Zigzag and “teach the bully a lesson.” Stanley feigns a punch and Zigzag proceeds to beat Stanley up. Zero pulls Zigzag off and has him in a life threatening choke hold. Mr. Pendanski fires his gun into the air. The gunfire brings the Warden and the other counselors out. The boys tell the Warden that Zero has been digging part of Stanley’s holes. Stanley tries to explain, but the Warden turns the situation against Zero by quizzing him on phonics. Mr. Pendanski comments that Zero is “so stupid, he doesn’t even know he’s stupid.” Zero then refuses to dig any more holes. Mr. Pendanski continues to berate Zero. Having had enough, Zero smacks a shovel into Mr. Pendanski’s face. The counselors draw their guns as Zero slowly walks away until he disappears in the distance.

CHAPTER 30 Summary Contd. Notes
Expecting Zero to return, the Warden posts guards at the showers and wreck room for the remainder of the day and night. She orders the six boys remaining to dig all seven holes. Notes The action is rising toward the climax. Stanley is fully aware that they are digging for treasure, not to build character. He no longer cares what the other boys think. He sees clearly the mean spirited side of Mr. Pendanski. Stanley has grown tremendously stronger from digging holes. However the most significant growth has been in his spirit. He stands up to Zigzag but shows his true strength by refusing to fight. He boldly defends his arrangement with Zero right to the Warden’s face. Stanley has truly built character - it had nothing to do with holes.

CHAPTER 31 Summary Stanley stays out on the lake digging Zero’s hole. He is angry with himself for letting Zero dig part of his hole and for not going after Zero. He thinks about trying to make a deal with the Warden, telling her where he really found the gold tube, but he is afraid of her rattlesnake fingernails. He hopes Zero has found “God’s thumb.” The next day, when Zero has not returned, the camp authorities question Stanley. Then the Warden tells Mr. Pendanski to destroy all of the records possible so the A.G.’s office has no way of knowing that Hector Zeroni was ever at Camp Green Lake. Notes The hopeful nature of the Yelnats family shows in Stanley’s musings about why it would be possible for Zero to find “God’s thumb.” This is in sharp contrast to the inhuman attitude of the authorities at Camp Green Lake who emotionlessly decide that “no one cares about Hector Zeroni.”

CHAPTER 32 Summary The vacancy in Group D is filled by a boy they call Twitch who is always twitching, he says, in readiness to steal a car. But Stanley cannot stop thinking about the possibility that Zero is still alive. His feelings overcome him while digging the next day and he attempts to take Mr. Sir’s water truck to rescue Zero. As he presses the accelerator the truck goes nowhere. Twitch calls to Stanley to put the truck in gear. Stanley does and zooms across the dry lake only to crash inside a hole. He leaves the truck and runs away, his canteen empty. Notes The climax occurs as Stanley shows his bravery and friendship by going after Zero.. The themes of fate, friendship, and compassion for victims of social injustice are behind his actions. He is showing the authorities at Camp Green Lake that they are wrong. Someone does care about Hector Zeroni.

CHAPTER 33 Summary Stanley walks slowly, looking for Zero, but thinking of eventually turning back. He passes a surprising number of holes at a great distance from the camp, and peers into each one. He runs from one hole where he sees a family of yellow-spotted lizards. He comes across a sunflower seed sack, finds one seed inside and calls it lunch. Notes Though Stanley is looking for Zero, the reader knows that Stanley expects to find only Zero’s body in one of the holes. His walking seems to be pointless.

CHAPTERS Summary Stanley continues walking toward elusive mirages of water. He thinks he can see “God’s thumb” in the distance and, though he knows it is futile, keeps walking toward it. He changes direction when he sees something off to his right. It turns out to be the remains of an overturned boat. Stanley reflects on the irony of the possibility that someone might have drowned on the very spot where he is dying of thirst. He reads the name “Mary Lou” on the back of the boat, and then hears a noise. He shouts, trying to scare the critter back into the boat. A hand with an orange sleeve reaches out. Zero emerges, weak, but smiling. Stanley suggests that he and Zero go back to camp. Zero refuses and offers Stanley some “sploosh.” They crawl into the shade of the boat and use Zero’s shovel to break open a tightly sealed jar of sweet, mushy nectar. Zero says that it is the last of the sixteen jars of “sploosh” he had found there. Not all of them had been sealed so tightly. Again Stanley suggests going back, and going to a hospital like Barf Bag had done after stepping on a rattlesnake. Zero explains that Barf Bag did it on purpose. He had taken his shoe and sock off first.

They crawl out from under the boat and Zero doubles over in pain. Stanley insists on taking Zero back. Again Zero refuses. Stanley gives in and points Zero toward “God’s thumb.” Notes The connections between the past and present are coming together showing fate’s hand in Stanley’s family history. The boat and spiced peaches that belonged to Sam the onion man, who was a victim of cruelty and racism, have saved the life of Zero, a victim of the same evils. The holes in the story are slowly being filled in. However the reader still does not know how the link between Stanley and Zero as a descendant of Madame Zeroni will be resolved, nor do we know how or if the boys will survive on “God’s thumb.”

CHAPTER 36 Summary Stanley uses the sunflower seed sack he had found to carry four unbroken sploosh jars. He and Zero walk toward God’s thumb, with Zero periodically falling on the ground retching. Using his shovel as a crutch Zero keeps on getting up and pressing on. As a diversion he asks Stanley to give him words to practice. Stanley encourages Zero telling him they can have pizza and ice cream when they get to the thumb. They reach the far edge of the lake and climb the steep walls of the lakebed. Stanley boosts Zero up, and then Zero hauls Stanley up using the shovel to reach him. This bloodies Zero’s hands. When they make it to the top they are in the shadow of the thumb. Notes Zero’s strength and willpower are at their peak as is the power of the friendship that has bonded Stanley and Zero. They help each other without concern for personal benefit or safety.

CHAPTERS Summary Stanley and Zero climb the increasingly steep mountain up to the thumb. Weeds and gnats appear. Zero doubles over once again, vomits, and eventually falls over unconscious. Stanley lifts Zero and carries him farther up the mountain, leaving the shovel and jars behind. The weeds Stanley is walking through have an unpleasant odor. He falls into mud and realizes that there must be water there. He digs as deep as he can and drips water into Zero’s mouth. Zero comes to. Stanley digs more and discovers an onion growing underground. He and Zero eat it. The next morning Stanley wakes up and sees that his water hole is brown and muddy. He wants to go back down the mountain to find the shovel and jars. Zero is still very sick and in his delirium confesses to Stanley that it was he, Zero, who stole Clyde Livingston’s shoes. Stanley does not understand. Stanley sings his father’s song as Zero falls asleep

Notes The first part of the novel gave us tidbits of information a little bit at a time. Now the pieces of history are coming together and the story is moving faster. Stanley has stumbled upon Sam’s onion field where the water runs uphill. The puzzle is almost complete. The stories within the story have come together wit flawless detail. A descendant of Elya Yelnats has carried a descendant of Madame Zeroni up the mountain to a place where the water runs uphill and has sung the pig lullaby to him. Stanley has made good on the promise that Elya broke.

CHAPTER 40 Summary There is a brief flashback to the story of a little girl who was cured of near fatal “stomach sickness” by eating Sam the onion man’s onions. Stanley and Zero spend the next two days sleeping and eating onions. The water they are drinking is muddy so Stanley decides to go down the mountain and look for the shovel. Zero, still weak, stays behind. Stanley walks an unusually long distance down the mountain, following his trail from two days before. When he decides that he has gone too far, because it would have been impossible to carry Zero uphill that distance, he sees the shovel and sack of jars a little farther down the mountain. Notes Two themes are addressed in this chapter. The story of the medicinal powers of Sam’s onions foreshadows Zero’s recovery and shows the impact of fate and history. Retracing the incredible distance that Stanley carried Zero demonstrates the power of friendship.

CHAPTER 41 Summary Zero is getting better. Stanley, to his own surprise, never got sick from the sploosh. The boys are living on onions, and their water hole, though murky, it quite large. Zero explains his childhood to Stanley, how he went to the same homeless shelter as Clyde Livingston once in a while. It was there that he saw the sneakers and took them for his own. He did not realize he was stealing; he just needed shoes. When everyone made a fuss Zero took the shoes off and left them on a parked car. He was later arrested for trying to steal a new pair of sneakers from a shoe store. “If I had just kept those old smelly sneakers, then neither of us would be here right now.” Notes The conclusion to Zero’s story about stealing Clyde Livingston’s shoes demonstrates that it was beyond coincidence that a Yelnats and a Zeroni were brought together. Had the series of events that led to each of their arrests not occurred, they could not have enacted the scene that was supposed to have taken place generations before. (See Notes Ch )

CHAPTER 42 Summary Zero recovers and digs their water hole deeper, lining it with rocks. They now have clear water and eat about twenty onions a day. Stanley feels happy on the mountain with Zero. He was never a happy child before, but now he has a new sense of himself and he likes it. He remembers thinking that the sneakers that fell from the overpass were destiny’s shoes and believes that destiny brought him and Zero to the mountain. Stanley thinks through some crazy alternatives to returning to Camp Green Lake. Finally, he decides that it is his destiny to dig up Kate Barlow’s treasure. He asks Zero if he wants to dig one more hole. Notes Stanley has completely changed. He is no longer the weak, fat, picked on, unhappy boy introduced in Chapter 3. He is strong, happy, and likes who he has become. He even has a real friend. True to the novel’s predominant theme, Stanley feels he has found his destiny.

CHAPTER 43 Summary Stanley and Zero pack water and onions and make plans for their return to Camp Green Lake where they will try to find the treasure, and then escape up the dirt road. Zero tells Stanley more about his childhood and how his mother sang a version of the same song that Stanley had sung. Stanley thinks about his parents and wonders what they might have been told. They head down the mountain and Stanley takes a tumble. He is all right and they are able to recover the jars of water and the onions that had dropped. Stubbornly, they each refuse to take the first drink until their throats are raspy and they have to. Zero spots the Mary Lou and continues with stories of his childhood as they walk. He tells of how he stayed in a park where his mother told him to wait, but she didn’t return for over a month. After passing the Mary Lou, Zero directs their path to Camp Green Lake. Soon they hear the sounds of the camp. They hide in holes near the one Stanley had found the lipstick tube in. Notes Stanley and Zero have taken their situation into their own hands, temporarily undermining fate. It is their friendship that has brought them this far. Perhaps their friendship has even broken the curse on Green Lake as suggested by the appearance of clouds in this chapter and the next.

CHAPTERS 44 - 45 Summary Notes
After the camp is asleep Stanley starts digging and Zero sneaks off to fill their water jars. He returns with cereal and water, then goes back again for refills. Stanley keeps digging. He unearths part of a rectangular object embedded in the side of the hole. Carefully he digs around it until he is able to pull it loose. It is a suitcase. He hands it up to Zero. The Warden is standing there. Mr. Sir and Mr. Pendanski are there as well. They see yellow-spotted lizards crawling on Zero and on the suitcase that is now in his lap. Mr. Pendanski shines his flashlight into the hole. Stanley is standing in a lizard nest. The Warden is pleased that there will at least be a body to give to the woman from the A.G.’s office. She is content to wait for the boys to die from lizard bites so that she may have the treasure she has been digging for since she was a little girl. Notes Things had been looking up for Stanley, but now he seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time again. Previous turns of events however, suggest that fate may have something else in store for him.

CHAPTERS Summary Stanley and Zero do their best to stay still so as not to disturb the lizards. The Warden fabricates the story she wants Mr. Sir and Mr. Pendanski to tell the woman and the A.G. Stanley does not know who the woman is or what the “Age-ee” is. He tries to think of pleasant things before he dies, so he thinks of his mother. The Warden is annoyed that Stanley is not dead yet. Mr. Sir tells Stanley something about a lawyer that had been there yesterday to pick Stanley up, but Stanley could not make sense of it. Stanley hears Zero trying to say something. There are now eight lizards in the hole with Stanley, moving lower into the shade as the sun rises. A car pulls up just as Zero asks Stanley if Stanley’s last name is his first name spelled backwards. Mr. Pendanski leads a tall man and an Hispanic woman over to the hole. The woman says she is Stanley’s lawyer and begins accusing and arguing with the Warden. The Warden says Stanley has been delirious and tried to steal her suitcase. Meanwhile the lizards go completely into the shade and Stanley is able to climb out of his hole. He helps Zero, who is still holding the suitcase, to his feet.

The Warden threatens to press charges against Stanley for stealing the suitcase. Zero tells everyone that the suitcase has Stanley’s name on it and shows them the big black letters STANLEY YELNATS. The Warden is dumbfounded. The Warden tries to adjust her story so she can get into the suitcase. Stanley’s lawyer, Ms. Morengo, and the tall man, the Attorney General (A.G.), rush Stanley away. Stanley refuses to leave without Zero. The lawyer and the A.G. ask for Hector’s file but it cannot be found. Outraged, they take Hector with them. All of the other boys from Group D, except X-Ray, come to see them off. Notes Stanley’s bad luck and the bad luck of his great-grandfather have combined to help Stanley and Hector get out of Camp Green Lake together. All of the events that seemed like being in the wrong place at the wrong time ended up putting the boys in the right place at the right time.

CHAPTER 49 Summary A flashback to another story about Sam and his onions explains how having onion juice in your blood will prevent yellow-spotted lizard from biting you. The lizards did not live in Green Lake until the lake dried up. Sam used to give bottles of onion juice to rattlesnake hunters when they went out into the desert where the lizards lived. “The lizards don’t like onion blood.” Stanley and Zero ride in Ms. Morengo’s car with the air-conditioning on and the windows open to vent out the boys’ oniony smell. Ms. Morengo is Stanley’s father’s lawyer. She explains how she investigated Stanley’s case and found him innocent. Zero confesses to stealing the sneakers and she warns him not to say it ever again. She shows the boys the new product Stanley’s father invented that eliminates foot odor. It smells like peaches. The boys fall asleep as the first rain in over one hundred years falls on Green Lake.

CHAPTER 49 Summary Contd. Notes
Thanks to Sam’s onions, the boys survived being covered with yellow-spotted lizards while the lizards kept the Warden and the counselors away until Ms. Morengo and the A.G. came. Stanley’s fate is once again tied into the history of Green Lake. To punctuate this, Stanley’s father’s invention eliminates foot odor (both Clyde Livingston’s and Trout Walker’s problem) and smells like peaches (Katherine Barlow’s special recipe and the sploosh that kept Zero alive). The rain that finally falls on Green Lake symbolizes that the curse on the lake is broken, as well as the curse between the Zeroni and Yelnats families.

PART THREE - Filling in the Holes
Chapter Summaries and Notes PART THREE - Filling in the Holes

CHAPTER 50 Summary The narrator points out that Stanley’s father came up with his invention on the same day that Stanley carried Zero up the mountain. The Warden, Ms. Walker, sold Camp Green Lake. It is to become a Girl Scout Camp. Stanley and Zero each received almost a million dollars as a result of the stock certificates and notes that were in the suitcase they found. Stanley bought his family a house. Hector hired private investigators. The final scene is a party at Stanley’s house where all have gathered to see the TV commercial for Stanley’s father’s new product. Clyde Livingston is the spokesperson. He is also at the party. The product is called Sploosh. The commercial receives a round of applause. Hector is at the party. He is seated in front of a woman who has the same smile as Hector. She sings to him: If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply; Reflecting the sun and all that’s gone by. Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly. Fly high, my baby bird, My angel, my only.

CHAPTER 50 Summary Notes The narrator returns to the ironies of fate in this epilogue where he tells the reader to “fill in the holes yourself.” Stanley’s father finds success the day a Yelnats carries a Zeroni up the mountain. Mr. Sir’s quips about Camp Green Lake not being a Girl Scout Camp are overturned. Elements of all three of the Yelnats stories resolve into a happy ending. Finally, the wishful thinking pig lullaby is changed into a song that encourages the young to use the past to move boldly into the future. The puzzle is complete. There are no more holes.

STUDY QUESTIONS - MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUIZ

1. On what did Stanley’s family blame their bad luck?
A. laziness B. a curse C. poverty Answer: B. a curse

2. How did Stanley’s great-grandfather lose his fortune?
A. gambling B. he was robbed C. in the stock market Answer: B. he was robbed

3. Why did Elya Yelnats go to America?
A. to find fortune B. to visit relatives C. to escape heartbreak Answer: C. to escape heartbreak

4. What was the first “interesting” item Stanley found?
A. a fossil B. a gold tube C. sunflower seeds Answer: A. a fossil

5. What did Stanley give to X-Ray?
A. a shovel B. sunflower seeds C. a gold tube Answer: C. a gold tube

6. Who was the leader of the boys from Group D?
A. Stanley B. X-Ray C. Armpit Answer: B. X-Ray

7. Who stole Mr. Sir’s sunflower seeds?
A. Magnet B. X-Ray C. Squid Answer: A. Magnet

8. Which word best describes how Mr. Pendanski treats Zero?
A. compassion B. indifference C. ridicule Answer: C. ridicule

9. Who punished Stanley by depriving him of water?
A. Mr. Sir B. Mr. Pendanski C. the Warden Answer: A. Mr. Sir

10. Who was not allowed to attend classes at the schoolhouse in Green Lake?
A. Kate Barlow B. Trout Walker C. Sam Answer: C. Sam

11. Why did the people of Green Lake turn against Sam?
A. He was a murderer. B. He was black. C. He smelled of onions Answer: B. He was black.

12. According to the story, who punished the people of Green Lake?
A. Trout Walker B. Kate Barlow C. God Answer: C. God

A. Devil’s Peak B. God’s thumb C. Cold Mountain
13. Where did Stanley and Zero head after their escape from Camp Green Lake? A. Devil’s Peak B. God’s thumb C. Cold Mountain Answer: B. God’s thumb

14. What did Stanley and Zero find on the mountain?
A. peaches B. onions C. treasure Answer: B. onions

15. What did Camp Green Lake ultimately become?
A. a lake B. a resort C. a Girl Scout Camp Answer: C. a Girl Scout Camp

ESSAY TOPICS 1. Why is the book called Holes?
2. What was the hole in Stanley’s life when he first went to Camp Green Lake? How was it filled in? 3. Discuss the significance of the nicknames of the boys at Camp Green Lake. 4. How did Stanley’s memories of Derrick Dunne help him survive his second day of digging? 5. Explain the importance of onions, peaches, May Lou. 6. What does X-Ray’s real name, Rex, mean? Why was he the leader of the group? 7. How did Stanley’s personality change since arriving at Camp Green lake? Has his character improved or deteriorated?

ESSAY TOPICS Contd. 8. Compare and contrast the three versions of the song that appears throughout the book. 9. Compare and contrast the characters Stanley and Zero. Use physical and personality traits in your descriptions. 10. Give examples of Stanley’s conflicts with people, nature, and himself. 11. Find an example of sarcasm, irony, and simile in the novel. Explain the meaning of each. 12. Describe the similarities between Madame Zeroni and Zero, and Stanley and Elya.

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