The shoes were worth about five thousand dollars. They fell on his head while walking home from school. At first he thought they were good luck because his father is trying to find a way to recycle shoes. He takes a trial and is found guilty and sent to Camp Green Lake. He meets Squid, X-ray, Magnet, Armpit, Zigzag, and Zero whom are in Group D just like him. Stanley digs holes everyday. He becomes friends with Zero strikes a deal with Zero that if Zero digs a part of his hole everyday, he will teach Zero how to read.
Meanwhile the book tells us about Stanley's so called “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather”. They say how he, Elya Yelnats, fell in love with a girl named Myra. He wants to marry her but so does Igor Barkov and Igor offers his fattest pig while Elya only has a “heart full of love” so Myra's father obviously chooses Igor. Elya goes to Madame Zeroni, one of his friends, for help. At first Madame Zeroni doesn't want to help because she knows that Myra's head is as empty as a flower pot but she eventually agrees because Elya is only fifteen and can see none of that. She tells Elya to bring a piglet up the mountain every day to drink the mountain water. She teaches him a special song for him to sing every time the pig drinks the water. She also tells him to bring her up the mountain after all that to drink the water or else there will be a curse put on him and his descendants for all of eternity. Elya doesn't think much of that and agrees. On Myra's Birthday he brings the pig to Myra's dad. The pig and Igor's pig way exactly the same. Elya realizes that Myra's brain is “as empty as a flowerpot”. He leaves Latvia for America. In America he marries Sarah Miller. They are very happy together but he remembers the broken promise. He tells Sarah and they cope with the bad luck.
The book also tells us about the outlaw, Kissin' Kate Barlow, who robbed his great-grandfather. Katherine Barlow used to be a one-room school house teacher in the town nearby Green Lake. She was famous for her spicy peaches and her beauty. She taught young children in the daytime, adults at nighttime. One of her adult students is “Trout” Walker, the snottiest, richest person nearby Green Lake. One day he asks Kate Barlow if she wants to ride in his new motorboat with him. She says no. Meanwhile Sam the Onion Picker helps turn her rotten, decaying schoolhouse into one as good as a brand new one. Everybody but Kate is happy because Kate has fallen in love with him. One day they kiss but Hattie Parker, a resident of the town, sees them and reports Sam to the sheriff because Sam is black and Kate is white and they are not supposed to be kissing. A mob, lead by Trout, takes apart the schoolhouse. Kate escapes and after talking to the sheriff, realizes that Sam is to be hanged. She warns Sam and he gets to his boat and escapes. Here are the facts.
- Trout gets his motorboat and catches Sam and shoots him
- Since then, it hasn't rained in the area
After that Kate Barlow shot the sheriff in the head and gives him the kiss he asked for three days ago. Then Katherine Barlow becomes Kissin' Kate Barlow, one of the most feared outlaws in the West for twenty years. She returns to the lake after that and lives there before Trout and Linda Walker, one of Kate's students, catch her. They try to get her to tell where the treasure is but she dies because of a yellow-spotted lizard.
Stanley and Zero run away from Camp Green Lake. They climb up to a butte called God's thumb, find refuge, water, and onions there. Stanley suddenly realizes that Kate Barlow hid his great-grandfather's stock market treasure. He finds it, gets out of Camp Green Lake because they declared him innocent, and lives a happy life.
Letter
Mar. 28, 2008
Dear Louis Sachar,
I really enjoyed your book Holes. It was really cool when you put down clues for us such as Kate Barlow stole Stanley Yelnats I's Stock Market forms and kept it as her treasure.
My favorite part of the book was when Stanley stole the water truck. Twitch told him that he could break into the car, disable the alarm, and hot-wire the engine in less than a minute. Stanley has never driven so he doesn't know how that works. He looks through the window and sees the keys are in ignition. Stanley gets in, starts the car, and puts it in gear after twitch tells him to. I thought he would've gotten away with that until he was slammed forward.
My favorite character was Zero once Stanley met him. My favorite thing bout him is his ability with math. I'm also good at math just like Zero. He's also pretty tough to be able to be the first to dig his hole and finish it, five feet wide, five feet deep.
There was one part of the book, the part when Zero and Stanley were surrounded by yellow-spotted lizards, where I couldn't put the book down. It was exciting to see that the yellow-spotted lizards not attack or kill them.
I hope you keep on writing books about Stanley and the other Group D members. I'm going to read Small Steps next.
