Holes starts out
by describing Camp Green. This camp used
to be a lake side camp but is now dry and barren. The camp is for young juveniles to go to
serve out their sentence instead of going to jail. The main character, Stanley Yelnats, and his
family have extremely bad luck which they blame on the curse of his great great
grandfather which has been carried through the generations. Stanley was accused and convicted of a crime
he didn’t commit and is sentenced but he gets to pick where he serves his time,
so he chooses Camp Green thinking that camp would be more like summer camp but all
the boys do in the camp is dig holes.
They dig big, deep holes and they don’t know why. All they are told is that digging helps to
build character, but there is another reason why. I don’t want to give the story away but there
a lot of layers in this story because the story lines of this book are all sort
of connected in one way or another. The
mystery of how these story lines are connected is what makes this book fun and
exciting because you want to find out what the big mystery is.
Holes was a great read and I
think this would be a great book for a middle school aged child because this
book has adventure and mystery so I think it will keep student’s interest. And since the book itself is about adolescent
boys they can really relate to some of the issues that these boys have. This book doesn’t really have academic content
and could be used for a fun read. I do
think this would be a fun book to show students how important your family’s history
can really be. The multiple story lines
in this book are all related because of what happened in the past and therefore
shows that the past does effect the future, but that you can change your future
no matter what happened in your past.
I loved reading this book as a child. Who could forget about kissing Kate Barlow and Sam. O ya and that onions and peaches can make you feet smell good! I remember my whole class really enjoying this book and actually reading the WHOLE thing. Great pick I think this book should be in every teachers library.
ReplyDeleteMyranda,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great book to bring in! I remember when I read this book in Middle School and actually not hating it. This book can be very relatable for the struggling youth. I think that this would be a great book to read as a class and do a literary analysis on the literature. Great post and book choice!
Amanda
I remember reading this book as a kid, too. I found it really entertaining, and like you mentioned in class, this would be a really great book to get boys involved in reading. They don't like to read emotional books; they like books where action and gross stuff happens, and this book definitely fits that category. Whether this is read as a whole class, or just kept in the classroom library, I think it's a good book for kids to have access to!
ReplyDeleteI really love this book and it's perfect for an upper elementary or middle school classrooom. What's great is that it's enjoyable and relatable to both boys and girls. It can easily be read by the whole class. It totally touches on issues about being an "outsider", while giving some history all throughout. Nice choice!
ReplyDelete