Holes

Louis Sachar, Author Frances Foster Books $17 (233p) ISBN 978-0-374-33265-5

This wry and loopy novel about a camp for juvenile delinquents in a dry Texas desert (once the largest lake in the state) by the author of There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom and the Wayside School series has some serious undercurrents. Stanley Yelnats (appropriately enough for a story about reversals, the protagonist's name is a palindrome) gets sent to Camp Green Lake to do penance, ""a camp for bad boys."" Never mind that Stanley didn't commit the crime he has been convicted of--he blames his bad luck on his ""no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather."" He digs five-foot-deep holes with all the other ""bad"" boys under the baleful direction of the Warden, perhaps the most terrifying female since Big Nurse. Just when it seems as though this is going to be a weird YA cross between One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Cool Hand Luke, the story takes off--along with Stanley, who flees camp after his buddy Zero--in a wholly unexpected direction to become a dazzling blend of social commentary, tall tale and magic realism. Readers (especially boys) will likely delight in the larger-than-life (truly Texas-style) manner in which Sachar fills in all the holes, as he ties together seemingly disparate story threads to dispel ghosts from the past and give everyone their just deserts. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)

Reviewed on: 08/03/1998
Release date: 08/01/1998

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Analog Audio Cassette - 978-0-8072-8071-3

Analog Audio Cassette - 978-0-8072-8162-8

Hardcover - 286 pages - 978-0-7862-2186-8

Paperback - 240 pages - 978-0-440-41480-3

Paperback - 240 pages - 978-0-8072-8073-7

Compact Disc - 978-0-8072-6202-3

Mass Market Paperbound - 256 pages - 978-0-440-22859-2

Compact Disc - 978-0-8072-8611-1

Paperback - 74 pages - 978-84-348-6793-2

Prebound-Glued - 233 pages - 978-0-613-23669-0

Paperback - 978-2-211-05287-0

Prebound-Sewn - 978-0-606-18910-1

Paperback - 256 pages - 978-0-440-41946-4

Analog Audio Cassette - 978-0-8072-1594-4

Hardcover - 293 pages - 978-0-03-066412-0

Prebound-Glued - 231 pages - 978-0-613-87297-3

Prebound-Other - 233 pages - 978-0-613-87800-5

Paperback - 288 pages - 978-0-7862-6190-1

Compact Disc - 978-0-7393-3176-7