and, keep in mind that I say this without sarcasm - this book is timeless and, what I'd even consider, a middle-grade classic. Everyone treats Zero like he's stupid because he's quiet and functionally illiterate, but there is actually a lot more to him going on to anyone who actually takes the time to get to know him, as Stanley finds out. After Kate leaves to become an outlaw, he marries Linda Miller but his family loses everything after the lake dries up. Regarding the story about carrying a pig up the mountain, I knew I heard that story before, and it was The Poppy War!

A Negro man and a white woman fall in love and when the townspeople see them kiss, they start a riot and burn the school down.If life were ultra-dystopian, I would hole up in an ivory tower and read all the books I haven't read yet. And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!

While losing the sense of empathy and humanity day after day, he has to learn to keep going, get along with the other boys and survive long enough to get out. Visit my Work with Me page and request my Media Kit for details of product reviews, blogging services and social media content creation. The story line jumps between time periods, settings, and characters, so some readers might not be inclined to stick with the adventure independently.The story is pretty enjoyable, for the most part it follows in the silly tradition of the Sachar work I am familiar with, however, the fact that he had to throw a ‘message’ in there pretty much turned me off. It ends up being a critique of the justice system and an interesting cautionary tale of how small actions can have large-scale effects. And you even get to learn about the mysterious Warden of the camp and why hole-digging ended up being the de facto punishment for the boys. Louis Sachar is a phenomenal storyteller, and over the course of the entire book, the pieces fit together so marvelously, and with the perfection of a jigsaw puzzle! Critic Maria Nikolajeva contends that Holes is set apart through the not just manual, but forced labor Stanley and the other campers do daily.

It's an application of Newton's 3rd law of motion (which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). The suitcase, which had belonged to Stanley's great-grandfather, contains financial instruments worth nearly two million dollars. Katherine Barlow (Kissin' Kate Barlow): Katherine Barlow is a sweet and intelligent woman who teaches in a one-room school house on Green Lake one hundred and ten years before Stanley arrives at Camp Green Lake.Stanley's bad luck is blamed on the curse left on his great-great-grandfather and the Yelnats family easily believes in the power of this curse.