Holes

Holes is a John Newberry award winner, written by Louis Sachar.

Sachar, L. (1998). Holes. New York: Dell Yearling.

Exposition:

Stanley Yelnats, who is followed by bad luck and a family curse, is sent to Camp Green Lake.

Conflict:

Stanley is convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to time at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention center in Texas digging holes for the warden.

Rising Action:

Stanley digs the holes as he is told to do while making friends with some of the other boys. He realizes that the digging is not just punishment, and warden is looking for something.

Climax:

Stanley escapes to rescue another boy, Zero, and they both come close to dying. The rescue breaks the Yelnats family curse and the boys discover the treasure that the warden has been searching for. The warden finds them right as they discover the treasure.

Falling Action:
Stanley’s attorney arrives to declare his innocence and rescues him and Zero from the warden. Stanley’s name in on the suitcase treasure, so it is claimed as rightfully his.

Resolution:

The suitcase turns out to belong to Stanley’s great-grandfather. It is full of valuable items that Stanley has rightful claim to. The juvenile detention center is shut down.

Literary Qualities:

Irony is very prevalent in Holes; the characters overlapping and all being interrelated and intertwined histories. There is also a tone of understatement, with the reader experiencing Stanley’s story and attempting to solve the “mystery” as they read.