My daughter’s sixth grade class was reading Holes by Louis Sachar. I decided to read it too since I had never read the book, but liked the movie.

This is a really wonderful book. It touches on so many important themes in really accessible ways. It’s easy to read, but still compelling. I love the way everything works together in each character’s backstory for a really satisfying connection.

My daughter, who is usually an all-fantasy reader, really liked it too.

It occured to me that this book might be considered magical realism. It’s mostly realistic fiction, with interspersed historical fiction, but the element of the “curse” could be a bit of magical realism. ( )

Independent Reading Level: (5th Grade)
Awards: Newberry Medal (1999) ( )

4.5 ( )

just a great adventure while you hear about the great great great pig stealing grandpa and the current circumstances that land him in a not-so-traditional punishment camp.

Just a fun summer read. ( )

1998 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
1999 Newbery Medal Winner

A quirky and unique book--has the feel of a summer camp story full of odd kids, except that these kids are criminals and they are digging giant holes in the desert. The slow revelation of Stanley's family history was interesting. Loved the plot, but parts of it left me confused--was the only treasure that Kissin' Kate Barlow buried Stanley's grandfather's suitcase? The author made it sound like she had been robbing banks and individuals for at least a decade, so I didn't get why the Warden would have just stopped looking for the treasure after Stanley found the suitcase. Things like that challenged my suspension of disbelief, but the story was so much fun that it didn't really matter. ( )