Holes - Chapter Summary

Title - Holes by Louis Sachar - Teacher Pages
By - Deb Flaugher
Chapter: #1
Pages:9-10
Summary: This chapter describes Camp Green Lake

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Chapter: #2
Pages:11
Summary: (very brief)
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Chapter: #3
Pages:12-17
Summary: Stanley takes the bus ride to Camp, and makes the best of the situation. Stanley is described, and so is his life in school, his family life, his family curse and bad luck.
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Chapter: #4
p18-23
Summary: Stanley gets off the bus, meets the guard and is thirsty, but the guard and bus driver won share the cold drinks. Stanley needs to strip, and get his jumpsuit, his canteen, and a cap with a cloth sewn on the back. His assignment is to dig a 5?hole every day, but no one will guard him. If he finds anything interesting he should report it, if the Warden likes it, he will get a day off. He is warned about lizards and told he will always be thirsty.
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Chapter: #5
Pages:24-29
Summary: Stanley sees the tents numbered A-F. Stanley is in tent D. He meets Mr. Pedanski, a counselor. He is warned about the warden, he meets the other boys. He finds out that Lewis is in the hospital, and learns that Lewis’ nickname is BarfBag. Stanley gets BarfBag’s old bed.
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Chapter: #6
Pages: 30- 36
Summary: Stanley showers, has dinner and goes to bed. Stanley tells the others about stealing Sweet Feet’s sneakers. The story of how Stanley really got the sneakers is explained.
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Chapter: #7
Pages: 37-56
Summary: Stanley was woken very early, before sunrise to go start digging. Xray had his own shovel. The lake bed was full of holes. Mr. Pendanski told them that Mr. Sir will come with a water truck, and if they find anything interesting they should turn it in and if the Warden likes it they get the rest of the day off.
They tell the story of Stanley’s great great grandfather and his love for a pretty (but stupid) girl named Myra in Latvia. Another man called Igor also loved her and brought a fat pig to her father for Myra. Elya Yelnats got advice from Madame Zeroni who told him to carry a piglet every day up to a mountain to a certain stream, and sing a certain song to it. On Myra’s 15th birthday, Elya was to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and sing to her, or his family would be cursed. Elya did it, except on the last day he bathed and brought the pig to Myra’s father, who said both pigs were the same. Myra couldn’t decide between the two men, so she had them pick a number. Elya gave the pig and went to America as a deck hand. He never did carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain, and remembered it later. Elya met and married a woman in America, and they translated the song into English.
Stanley finished his first hole with difficulty. Zero was the smallest boy but he finished first.
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Chapter: #8
Pages:57-58
Summary: Description of yellow spotted lizard
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Chapter: # 9
Pages: 59-64
Summary: Stanley showers in the cold shower, only briefly, and enjoys it. He goes to the WRECK room and notices how shabby and poor the conditions are. He begins to write a letter to his Mom as if it were a real camp. He trips over a boy they call caveman? but then learns that really the rest of the boys have nicknamed him caveman?
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Chapter: # 10
Pages: 65 - 69
Summary: Stanley woke up very achy, and was sore while digging the next hole. He had learned not to dump the dirt too close to the opening. As he was digging he found something. He thought it was a rock or a fossil. He gave it to Mr. Pedanski, but they said it wasn’t interesting enough.
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Chapter: # 11
Pages: 70 - 73
Summary: Xray asks Stanley to let him know first if he finds anything else. Xray admits that he doesn’t see very well, and can find anything. He says it isn’t fair that a new boy should find things and get a day off. Stanley thought it was interesting that a small boy like Xray would be a leader of the group. He decided that he was happy with his nickname, Caveman. As he dug more, he imagined getting revenge on his old school’s bully.

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Chapter: # 12
Pages: 74-78

Summary: Again, Stanley was the last to finish. He finds everyone else in a circle discussing their lives. Mr. Pendanski says that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it. Mr. Pendanski tries to get Stanley to take responsibility for his trouble, but Stanley blames his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. When they talk about what Zero wants to do, he says he just wants to dig holes.

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Chapter: #13
Pages: 79-84

Summary: Stanley was getting tougher, it didn’t hurt so much to dig holes. He saw something glisten in the dirt, it was a gold tube, engraved with an outline of a heart and the letters KB on it. He tried to think of some way out of giving it to X-Ray, but Zigzag saw him and he had to tell. They thought it was probably a shotgun shell, and Stanley suggested that X-Ray wait until the next day to tell about it so he didn’t get a whole day off. When the water truck came, Stanley got to move up a place in line.

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Chapter: #14
Pages: 85-89

Summary: The next morning, X-Ray snaps at Stanley, and won talk with him. X-Ray claims to have found the object, and shortly afterward the warden comes. The warden is a woman, she has Mr. Pendanski drive X-Ray back to camp, and she orders Mr. Pendanski to refill the canteens.

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Chapter: #15
Pages: 90-93

Summary: The Warden inspected the dirt pile she thought the object had come from, then she has the rest of the boys dig twice to inspect the dirt. She stays around inspecting everything they do, and the boys have to dig larger holes and carry away the dirt.
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Chapter: #16
Pages: 94-97

Summary: That night, X-Ray is in a good mood, and he treats Stanley well. The next day, they dig more. By lunch time the Warden is impatient because they haven found any more interesting objects. They have to work faster. Stanley thinks he should tell where the object really was. That night, Stanley gets a letter from his mother, and Zero asks about it, and doesn’t seem to understand what Stanley says.

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Chapter: #17
Pages: 99-101

Summary: The boys have to keep digging around the area for a week and a half, and the Warden becomes more and more impatient about finding something. She jabs at Armpit and it bleeds. Stanley gets hurt when Zigzag’s shovel accidentally hits his head, but he has to keep working. Zigzag makes him lift the dirt that had been in his shovel when he was hurt.

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Chapter: #18
Pages: 102-105

Summary: The next day they dig regular holes in another part of the lakebed. Stanley hurts from his injury, but his muscles are stronger now. That night he begins to write to his mother, and Zero comes in and watches him. Zero admits that he can’t read or write, and he wants Stanley to teach him. Stanley says that he can’t teach, because he is too tired.


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Chapter: #19
Pages: 106-112

Summary: Stanley hears Squid cry at night, but Squid denies it the next morning. Stanley realizes they are all dangerous boys, and he keeps quiet. That day, Magnet steals Mr. Sir’s sunflower seeds, and they spill in Stanley’s hole. When Mr. Sir comes back, Stanley takes the blame for stealing the sack of sunflower seeds. Mr. Sir drives him to go to see the Warden.

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Chapter: #20
Pages: 112-116

Summary: Mr. Sir takes Stanley to see the Warden, and Stanley enjoys the air-conditioning. When he tells his story, the Warden sends him to get a flowered case, and she shows him nail polish inside that she says is poisoned with rattlesnake venom, and she scratches Mr. Sir, and sends Stanley back to keep digging.

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Chapter: #21
Pages: 117 -119

Summary: Stanley walks back to the holes and thinks about his great grandfather who was robbed by Kissing Kate, and who survived by living on God’s thumb. When he got back, his hole was nearly finished? and Zero’s hole was smaller than the others.

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Chapter: #22
Pages: 120-126

Summary: Stanley was done first, and that night he asked Zero why he had done it. Zero said it was because Stanley hadn’t stolen the sunflower seeds or the sneakers. Stanley offers to teach Zero to read. He teaches him the alphabet, then begins the letters one at a time. He is amazed at how Zero can figure things out quickly. Zero offers to continue to dig some of Stanley’s hole each day. Stanley realizes that the object he found was a lipstick tube, with the same initials on it as Kate Barlow.
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Chapter: #23
Pages: 127-130

Summary: Description of the history of Green Lake: 110 years ago it was a lake, picnics were held there on the 4th of July, Kate Barlow always won prizes for her spiced peaches which was blood for the angels? She was the town’s school teacher, and she was loved by Trout Walker (his feet smelled like fish) who was loud and stupid. Trout wanted to take her for a boat ride, but she wasn’t interested.

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Chapter: #24
Pages: 131-134

Summary: When Stanley woke the next morning, he saw Mr. Sir’s face, all swollen and purple. When Mr. Sir came with the water truck that afternoon, he poured the water next to Stanley’s canteen, not in it.

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Chapter: #25
Pages: 135-140

Summary: More History about Green Lake: Sick people in town would see Dr. Hawthorne or Sam the onion man. Sam the onion man told everyone to eat onions, that onions would cure whatever was wrong with them. Sam would fix things for Kate Barlow in exchange for her spiced peaches. She fell in love with him, and they kissed in the rain, (which was not acceptable in those days.)

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Chapter: #26
Pages: 141-145

Summary: Trout Walker led people to the school house and called Kate Barlow an evil Woman? for having kissed Sam in public. She ran to the sheriff who was a drunk, and no help at all. Trout Walker caught Kate and Sam on the lake where Kate was rescued, but Trout and Sam were killed. Then Kate killed the sheriff and kissed him, which is how she became Kate Barlow, the Kissing Bandit.
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Chapter: #27
Pages: 146-150

Summary: Stanley continued digging, Zero would help him with his holes. Mr. Sir’s scratches were beginning to heal. When Mr. Sir secretly filled Stanley’s canteen, Stanley then poured it out. Stanley had taught Zero all the alphabet letters, and how to spell his name. Zero said his real name was Hector Zeroni.

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Chapter: #28
Pages: 151-155

Summary: After 20 years of being the Kissing Bandit, Kate Barlow returned to Green Lake. Most of the lake had dried up. Trout Walker found her and tried to rob her of the riches she had stole through the years. They decided that Kate had buried the riches in the lake bed. They tried to torture her, but she never told them where it was.


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Chapter: #29 (PART TWO: THE LAST HOLE)
Pages: 159 - 161

Summary: It was hot and humid, a storm was on the way. Stanley looked at the sky and the mountains. One rock formation looked like a fist with a thumb sticking up. The thumb of God? Stanley thought of the story of his great grandfather having survived on the thumb of God.

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Chapter: #30
Pages: 162-174

Summary: It was Zigzag’s birthday, July 8th, and Mr. Sir gave him an extra carton of orange juice. Stanley thought about Kate Barlow and her lipstick tube, and the thumb of God in the mountains. The other boys gave Stanley a hard time about Zero digging his hole, and they begin pushing each other. Zigzag jumps Stanley, who doesn’t fight back, but Zero chokes Zigzag. Mr. Pendanski fires his gun, others come running. It comes out about Stanley teaching Zero, and the adults say it’s no use teaching Zero to read, he is too stupid. Zero hits Mr. Pendanski with the shovel and leaves. The adults guard the camp? for Zero to come back, and the Warden talks about repainting her fingernails, and she still wants 7 holes from the 6 boys.

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Chapter: #31
Pages: 175-179

Summary:
Stanley was angry at himself, and he dug Zero’s hole. He wanted to go after Zero but he didn’t do it. He tried to think of a plan. Zero didn’t come back, and the Warden and others asked if anyone would miss Zero. He was a ward of the state, so they just decided to destroy all the records they had on him.


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Chapter: #32
Pages: 180-184

Summary: A New Kid was assigned to their group. He always fidgeted, so they nicknamed him Twitch. Stanley was worried about Zero, and thought about him suffering. The next day, when the water truck came around, he stole the truck. It fell into a hole, the airbag went off, and ran away. His canteen was empty.

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Chapter: #33
Pages: 185-187

Summary: Stanley walked toward where he thought the big thumb would be. He passed many holes, and he looked in them. He saw yellow spotted lizards. He found an empty sunflower seed sack with one seed.


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Chapter: #34
Pages: 188-191

Summary: Stanley saw a pool of water, or so he thought. He saw the thumb, and he walked toward a large object. It was a boat, upside down, called the Mary Lou. On the side a tunnel went down. He yelled, and someone yelled back, then an arm with a orange sleeve came out.


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Chapter: #35
Pages: 192-198

Summary: Zero doesn’t look good, he is in bad shape. Zero has been living on sploosh under the boat in a tunnel, sploosh tastes of peaches. Zero says he won go back to camp, and he won dig any more holes. Stanley shows Zero the mountain that looks like God’s thumb.


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-Chapter: #36
Pages: 199-207

Summary: They pack some unbroken jars in the sack, and head toward the Big Thumb. Zero used the shovel to help him walk. Stanley thought of what he may also need the shovel for. While they walked, Zero asked Stanley to give him some words. Stanley wondered about death and his parents. They came to the edge of the dry lake, and came to cliffs. They helped each other up the big cliffs Stanley boosted Zero up, and Zero held out the shovel to pull Stanley up. Zero’s hands were bleeding from holding the shovel.

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Chapter: #37
Pages: 208-210

Summary: Stanley becomes worried because they are really almost there, and he isn’t sure there will be anything to help them when they get there. They get excited in their climb because they realize there are weeds and bugs.

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Chapter: #38
Pages: 211-214

Summary: Stanley picked Zero up and carried him up. He smelled something, then he slipped and fell in a muddy place. He dug in the mud and drank, then he scooped out water for Zero. He found a smooth round object in the mud, it was an onion. He ate it and shared it with Zero.

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Chapter: #39
Pages: 215-218

Summary: When Stanley woke up, he saw he was in a meadow. Zero groaned, and it was hard for Stanley to talk. He planned to go down after the shovel to make their water hole bigger, but Zero wanted to tell him something. Zero said he had taken Clyde Livingston’s shoes, then Zero relaxed and slept.

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Chapter: #40
Pages: 219-224

Summary: Stanley discovers that the meadow is full of wild onions. It goes back to the story from the past of Sam the onion man, and how people felt that his onions cured their sick families. Stanley and Zero slept a lot, ate a lot of onions and grew stronger. Stanley didn’t want to leave Zero to get the shovel. Finally Stanley went, and he was amazed how far he had carried Zero up the mountain.
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Chapter: #41
Pages: 225-228

Summary: Stanley dug the hole deeper, and didn’t let Zero help. They were both starting to improve. Zero told Stanley how he stole the shoes from the homeless shelter. He had no parents and was living on the streets. He just took the shoes because he needed them, he couldn’t read the sign.
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Chapter: #42
Pages: 229-234

Summary: After about a week of living on onions, Stanley doesn’t smell anything anymore. The boys are better, and Stanley feels happy. He thinks about his life, his and Zero’s punishments, possibly living as a fugitive, and possibly looking for buried treasure.

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Chapter: #43
Pages: 235-246

Summary: Zero remembers having a home and a mother. The boys plan to go back, find the treasure, sneak some food, and get away. Stanley thinks of his parents, he is worried and scared. They go down, and they try not to drink water for as long as they can. Zero remembers his mother leaving him and his stuffed giraffe, and one day not coming back. He lived for a month in a tunnel of a playground in a park. Stanley begins to think more about his parents. Zero corrects Stanley about directions. They hid in a hole as they got close to camp, then when things got quiet they found the hole where Stanley had found the lipstick and went in.

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Chapter: #44
Pages: 247-253

Summary: Stanley listens to the sounds of the camp at night, then they go to the hole. Zero goes for water, and comes back with breakfast while Stanley digs. Stanley decides to dig wider instead of deeper because Kate Barlow wouldn’t dig deeper. Finally, he hits something hard on the side wall of the hole, it is a metal box. He digs underneath it to free it. When it comes out they see it is a metal suitcase. As Stanley pulls it out of the hole, the Warden thanks him.

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Chapter: #45
Pages: 254-256

Summary: A flashlight beam comes on and lights up Zero. Mr. Sir, Mr. Pendanski and the Warden are at the hole. They see a lizard on the suitcase, and then more lizards everywhere. The adults talk about having a body to give to the oman?? The Warden talks about having to dig holes to look for the treasure when she was a child.

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Chapter: #46
Pages: 257 - 261

Summary: A lizard jumped at Mr. Pendanski, Mr. Sir shot it. Mr. Pendanski suggests shooting the boys, but the Warden says to wait, their story should be simple to the A.G. about Stanley being bit by a lizard. She said they would bury Zero in one of the holes. Stanley remains hopeful, and imagines a good memory. Mr. Sir said Stanley’s lawyer came by and said he was innocent after all. The boys in the camp were waking up, the Warden told the counselors to tell the boys that they didn’t have to dig today. Zero gave a thumbs up, and Stanley carefully leaned against the hole’s wall.
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Chapter: #47
Pages: 262-268

Summary: When the sun came up, the lizards stayed low in the shade, but still on the boys. Zero said, satan? then ‘sa- tan- lee? A tarantula was eaten by one of the lizards. Stanley tried to get out but a lizard’s claw on his ankle stopped him. Zero asked if Stanley’s first name was the same as his last name, but backwards. Two strangers drove up, a man in a cowboy hat and a Hispanic woman. The woman threatened to file charges against Mrs. Walker and the Camp for child abuse and torture. The Warden said the kids stole the suitcase from her the night before, and were caught in the lizard nest. The man told Stanley not to say anything, but asked why Stanley wasn’t released the day before. The Warden said Stanley had been hospitalized, he had been delirious and had been having hallucinations, and there had been no authorization from the Attorney General. Stanley slowly got out of the hole, the lizards went back in the shade. He pulled out Zero. Stanley was dizzy. The Warden tried to get the suitcase, but Zero wouldn’t let her, it had Stanley Yelnats written on it.

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Chapter: #48
Pages: 269-275

Summary: As they walked back to Camp, they found out that the man was the Texas Attorney General, and the woman was Stanley’s lawyer, Ms. Morengo. They gave the boys orange juice and bagels. The Warden says that the suitcase has her things inside of it, and the adults argue about whether Stanley should open it. Then they give Stanley his things, and start to take him away, but Stanley won leave Hector (Zero). The Warden can find Zero’s files. The other boys come in and are glad to see them, and Squid asks Stanley to tell his mom that he was sorry. They let Zero go because they can find his records.

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Chapter: #49
Pages: 276-279

Summary: (History) There never used to be lizards in the area, but there were red-eyed monsters. The men of the area who hunted rattlesnakes would get lizard juice from Sam the onion man to keep away the monsters. If the men would drink onion juice, it would keep the lizards away.
On the ride back, the lady rolled down the windows, even though the air-conditioning was on. The lady explained how she figured out that Stanley was innocent, and how Stanley’s dad had invented something for foot odor that smelled like peaches.
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Chapter: #50
Pages: 283-288

Summary: (EPILOGUE)
Stanley’s mother says there was no curse, but it is strange that Stanley’s dad invented the cure for foot odor on the day after Stanley carried Zero (the great-great-grandson of Madame Zeroni) up the mountain.
Camp Green Lake was closed, and the Warden (Ms. Walker) sold the land to become a Girl Scout camp.
Stanley’s self confidence was better, the suitcase contained jewels that weren’t worth very much, and some old papers that were worth a lot. Stanley bought his family a new house, and hired a private investigator. A year and a half later, they watched a commercial by Clyde ‘sweet Feet? Livingston about Sploosh. Hector’s mother sang a song to Hector she knew from her childhood.

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Holes by Louis Sachar - Teacher Pages

Holes by Louis Sachar - Teacher Pages

HOLES REVIEW

Full Hollywood Jesus Holes Review -here

"You are to dig one hole each day, including Saturdays and Sundays. Each hole must be five feet deep, and five feet across in every direction. Your shovel is your measuring stick."
If you're not familiar with the previous paragraph, you don't know Holes -which is right in there with Harry Potter, in terms of Gen Y.

Published in 1998, Louis Sachar's Holes has been awarded both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for children's literature. With 2.7 million copies in print (2003), it is outselling most new fiction.

ARE YOU CONNECTED TO GEN Y?
Gen Y is the generation born on or before 1986. The oldest graduates High School this year (2003). So, do ya wanna know if you are connecting to Gen Y? Do you want to know if you are with it? Here's the test: When you hear the word ARMPIT what do you think of?

If the name of a boy was not even a remote thought to you, then you are disconnected. Ask any 7th grader and they will tell you about a certain boy in the book HOLES.

Books that form part of the the holy cannon for Gen Y are the Harry Potter series and Holes. Therefore this movie is very significant!

Gen Y is unique in that they have no knowledge of a time before PCs or CDs! Most believe popcorn has always been popped by microwave. For Baby Boomers (1946-64) microwave ovens, PCs and CDs are all recent, but for Gen Y these items are ancient technologies.

Unfortunately, certain "Christian" groups are ready to throw rocks at what Gen Y considers part of its identity. One Christian reviewer is warning parents to stay away from HOLES due to the curse from a fortune teller and because the word DAMN is said twice in the film. And in terms certain "Christian" attitudes regarding HARRY POTTER, oh my, do I even need to go there. But, let's move on, shall we?

Let's build bridges to Gen Y, rather than throwing rocks at those things that they see as part of their identity. Okay?

When I went to see Holes, the theatre was packed, and mostly with Gen Y. I really had to look for an available seat --this film is exceedingly important.

HOLES IS EXCELLENT
I really liked this film. However, when viewing Holes, keep in mind that this is a fantasy, pure and simple. There is little that could actually happen in real life -again, it is fantasy. Yet at the same time, it is true to the human condition -and that is what makes this a powerful story.

It is a story that has captured the hearts of a generation! A story designed to teach important human values and lessons.

It demonstrates the importance of family.

It underlines the value of friendship.

It teaches that there are consequences to actions, good and bad.

It presents life as not always fair.

It demonstrates how the mere thumb of God is more than any curse. That God's "presence" brings nourishment, living water, and healing.

It teaches that good ultimately overcomes evil.

That evil doers may have a season, but that destiny is tended for the good.

Here is a story of triumphant grace and mercy --over harsh, needless and human laws.

HOLES Q&A

Holes seems to be as much about a place as about the characters. Is that your feeling?
Yes. While every other story I'd written had begun with the characters, to me this story has always been about a place—Camp Green Lake. The story began with the place, and the characters and plot grew out of it. Of course, Camp Green Lake has no lake and hardly anything is green. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland. There used to be a town of Greenlake as well. The town also shriveled and dried up. During the summer, the daytime temperature hovers around 95 degrees in the shade, if you can find any shade. There's not much shade in a big, dry lake. The only trees are two old oaks on the Eastern edge of the lake. A hammock is stretched between the two trees, and a log cabin stands behind that. The kids are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs to the warden. The warden owns the shade. When you first start reading the book, however, you don't know it's that kind of camp. You just know that you're going to Camp Greenlake.

Where did you get the idea for Holes?
No, I didn't live next door to a juvenile correction facility. Actually, I never start with a full idea of what I'm going to write. I usually just start with a piece of a character and then see what develops. In this case, I didn't start with a character; I started writing about Camp Greenlake and it developed from there. I suppose the initial inspiration for writing about the camp came from the heat of summers in Texas. At the time I began the book, we had just returned from the relative coolness of a vacation in Maine to the Texas summer. Anybody who has ever tried to do yard work in Texas in July can easily imagine Hell to be a place where you are required to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet across day after day under the brutal Texas sun.

How long did it take you to write Holes?
A year and a half. A book like Marvin Redpost: Is He a Girl? is simply written and relatively short, taking four to six months to finish. In contrast, Holes took a year and a half to complete. I went through five rewrites before sending it to my editor. It occurs to me now that Stanley was sentenced to Camp Green Lake for eighteen months, which was exactly how long it took me to write Holes. I arbitrarily chose the length of his sentence early on. Maybe on some unconscious level, I knew how long it would take.

Did you find the characters taking on a life of their own as you were writing?
It happens every once in a while when you're writing that certain characters seem to leap off the page and take over the book, and that's what happened with the story of Kate and Sam. I had expected to make Kissin' Kate a complete villain, but when I started writing about her I ended up making her someone else entirely; it surprised me.

Why do you think book's lead character, Stanley Yelnats, connects with so many children?
Stanley isn't a hero-type. He's a kind of pathetic kid who feels like he has no friends, feels like his life is cursed. And I think everyone can identify with that in one way or another. And then there's the fact that here he is, a kid who isn't a hero, but he lifts himself up and becomes one. I think readers can imagine themselves rising with Stanley.

What was the hardest part of writing Holes?
People often ask me how I managed to tie everything together at the end, but that wasn't the hard part. I knew how everything was going to fit together. The hard part was laying out the strands throughout the story, telling the story of Kate Barlow and of Elya Yelnats and Elya's son, without it getting in the way of Stanley's story.

The other problem I had occurred when Stanley was digging his hole for the first time. I wanted the reader to feel what a long, miserable experience this is, digging those 5' by 5' holes. But how many times can you say, "He dug his shovel back into the dirt and lifted out another shovelful?" My solution was to interweave two stories, bringing more variety to the tale. Stanley's anxious first days at Camp Green Lake are set off against the story of his ancestor, Elya Yelnats, whose broken promise to a gypsy results indirectly in young Stanley's bad luck.

Holes is sweet and charming, but it is also darker and scarier than your other books. The warden, for example, mixes rattlesnake venom in her fingernail polish and threatens to scratch Stanley. Was it your intention to write a frightening tale?
My daughter, Sherre, who was in fourth grade when Holes came out, surprised me when she told me that the warden was scary. I had never really thought of the warden as scary or that the scene as especially disturbing. Rattlesnake venom, well, it's almost cartoonish. It's like a situation from that campy old TV show, Batman. It was never my intention to write a grim story, and I don't think it is. For instance, I came up with the idea of the boys digging holes because I liked the irony, not because it was harsh. While they were ostensibly digging to build character, the camp warden actually had hidden and dishonorable reasons for demanding this chore. I wanted Holes to be fun and adventurous.

How did you get the idea of rattlesnake venom in the warden's fingernail polish?
It's hard to remember where different ideas come from, but I think it first started when I originally thought the warden was going to be the granddaughter of Kissing Kate Barlow. And Kissing Kate always killed the men she kissed. At the time, I may have even considered that her lipstick might be poisoned. So, I wanted to do something along the same lines. Instead of poison lipstick, the warden had poison nail polish. But then I ended up liking Kissing Kate Barlow, and liking her character. So, instead I made the warden the granddaughter of Trout Walker.

How do you decide what is too scary for a child or how far you can go?
Aside from the rattlesnake venom, there were other scenes in the book where I really did struggle with this issue. There was a scene where Kate Barlow, a notorious outlaw, is being tortured by these two people who have captured her to find out where she buried the treasure. Most of the time, my judgments are based on instinct and experience. I don't, for instance, experiment with kids to find out if I've gone too far.

The book is very funny, but in an offbeat way.
Yes. Sometimes when I start reading, people aren't quite sure if this is a humorous book or not, and they're not sure whether to laugh at first, and then gradually, people start laughing.

Will you write a sequel to Holes?
I don't expect to. I feel like the story is completely finished. I don't really have more to add to it.

HOLES

Stanley Yelnats was given a choice. The judge said, "You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green Lake." Stanley was from a poor family. He had never been to camp before.

And so, Stanley Yelnats seems set to serve an easy sentence, which is only fair because he is as innocent as you or me. But Stanley is not going where he thinks he is. Camp Green Lake is like no other camp anywhere. It is a bizarre, almost otherworldly place that has no lake and nothing that is green. Nor is it a camp, at least not the kind of camp kids look forward to in the summertime. It is a place that once held "the largest lake in Texas," but today it is only a scorching desert wasteland, dotted with countless holes dug by the boys who live at the camp.

The trouble started when Stanley was accused of stealing a pair of shoes donated by basketball great Clyde "Sweetfeet" Livingston to a celebrity auction. In court, the judge doesn't believe Stanley's claim that the shoes fell from the sky onto his head. And yet, that's exactly what happened. Oddly, though, Stanley doesn't blame the judge for falsely convicting him. Instead, he blames the whole misadventure on his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather." Thanks to this benighted distant relative, the Yelnats family had been cursed for generations. For Stanley, his current troubles are just a natural part of being a Yelnats.

At Camp Green Lake, the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the treacherous warden is searching for something, and before long Stanley begins his own search—for the truth.

Fate conspires to resolve it all—the family curse, the mystery of the holes, the drought that destroyed Green Lake, and also, the legend of Kissing Kate Barlow, an infamous outlaw of the Wild West. The great wheel of justice has ground slowly for generations, but now it is about to reveal its verdict.

Question always apper in literature

1. How is the mood of the poem?
2. What does the writer want to tell us through this poem?
3. Identify the literay device used in the poem? ( and quote two examoles of the test)

Test Scope

1. future tenses - going to
2. gerunds and infinitives
3. Literature: Holes - 1 to 28: Write a summary for each chapters
   
4. Listening
5. Comprehension

Tenses Exercise
A. Fill in the right forms of the verb in the blanks.

1. He ___washes______ (wash) his bike by himself.
2. My friend sometimes ___plays____ (play) with his uncle.
3. I like to _____talk_____ ( talk ) with the actor.
4. My friend often __goes________ (go) shopping.
5. My mother ____cooked_______ (cook) the dinner last weekend.
6. My coaches _______swim__________ (swim) in the sea.
7. We ___finish___(finish) doing our homework before dinner everyday.
8. My younger brother ____ate_____ (eat) three apples yesterday.
9. One of my friends _______likes____ (like ) to play the guitar.
10. Can you ____run______ (run) two miles ?
11. The teacher ____had_______ (have) a headache.
12. They ____watch________ (watch) a movie every week.
13. Does it _______snow_______ (snow) outside?
14. He often ____takes_____ (take) his umbrella with him.
15. My good friends __stayed____ (stay) in a good hotel last week.
16. I was very happy to _____play_____ ( play ) in the park yesterday.
17. My friends often _____bring_____ (bring) their books to read.
18. The workers ____washed_______ (wash) his car last weekend.
19. Tom and Jerry ________climbed_________ (climb) the hill.
20. I __finish____(finish) practice playing piano before dinner everyday.
21. My aunt _cooked________ ( cook) lunch with me yesterday.
22. One of my uncles ______does not like_____ (not like ) to play the guitar.
23. Did you ______fly____ (fly) by plane last week ?
24. The teacher _____did not have______ (not have) a headache.
25. They ____do not watch________ ( not watch) a movie every week.
26. Did it _____rain_________ ( rain) outside?
27. He often ______rides___ (ride) bike by myself.
28. My best friends ____live______ (live) with his uncle.
29. I like to ___travel_______ ( travel ) to USA.
30. My friends often _go_________ (go) shopping.






Put the verb into the correct form, present simple tense, active or passive.

1. The problems __are_caused__ (cause) by the careless staff.
2. The staff __causes___ (cause) the problems.
3. The company is not independent. It _is_owned__(own) by a much larger company.
4. The goods _are_delivered__ (deliver) by the transportation company.
5. The school _cancels__ (cancel) the outdoor games because of the bad weather.
6. The park gates _are_locked__ (lock) at 6:30 p.m. every evening.
7. The house _is surrounded___ (surround) by trees.
8. The company _employs___ (employ) two hundred people.
9. Two hundred people_are_employed__ (employ) by the company.
10. Usually, some goods __are_destroyed__ (destroy) during the transportation