26. Holes by Louis Sachar (Audio Book)

HOLES by Louis Sachar (Listening Library, 1999)

Audio Book read by Kerry Beyer

GENRE: Contemporary / Mystery

HONORS: ABC Children’s Booksellers Choices Award, Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, Buckeye Children’s Book Award, Christopher Award, Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award, Garden State Children’s Book Award, Golden Archer Award, Indian Paintbrush Book Award, John Newbery Medal Winner, Maine Student Book Award, Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, National Book Award Winner, Nene Award, Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award, Prairie Pasque Award, Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award, Sequoyah Book Award, Soaring Eagle Book Award, Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award, Volunteer State Book Award, White Ravens Award, William Allen White Children’s Book Award, Young Reader’s Choice Award

REVIEW:

Stanley Yelnats believes that nothing really good will ever happen to him, faulting his great-great grandfather for getting a curse put on the family.  So, when Stanley is falsely accused of stealing a pair of sneakers donated to a shelter by a famous baseball player, he thinks of it as just another bit of evidence proving that his great-great grandfather’s curse is still alive.  Stanley is sentenced to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention center in what is now a desert instead of the lake of yesteryear.  With instructions by the Warden, Stanley and the rest of the inmates are required to dig a hole five feet wide and five feet deep.  Not believing that it is to help build character, as the Warden says, Stanley begins to question why they are digging and what they are looking for.

OPINION:

Holes is an entertaining book, full of mystery and adventure, as well as some humorous dialogue amidst the despair the boys feel at Camp Green Lake.  The story played out very well in audio book format and the reader, Kerry Beyer, is excellent at distinguishing characters through different dialects and tones.  However, because I listened to it on my way to and from work, there were moments when Stanley’s stories about his great-great grandfather and Kate Barlow were a bit confusing, making me question whether I was in the past or present until some cues clued me in.  I think that the side stories would be easier to understand when reading the novel or when listening to the audio book in larger chunks of time than I was able.  However, I was still able to see all of the connections at the end of the novel, so the confusion was not that big of a deal.  Although I was not sure of the author’s intent on including the side stories, it all played out perfectly when they all came together.

IDEAS:

This book would be great for library displays on Newbery Award Winners and books for boys.  Also, it would be interesting to have a program for tweens to read the novel and then watch the film, comparing how the author’s vision was translated on screen.