Holes

Holes by Louis Sachar is about a 14-year-old boy named Stanley Yelnats struck with misfortune due to a family curse and had later been wrongly convicted of theft.  Yelnats ended up being sent to Camp Green Lake where he was to dig holes to "build character" but later Stanley begins to suspect they are digging for other purposes.  This book was late adapted into a feature film starring Shia LaBeouf.  As mystery genres go, this book keeps you on the edge of your seat because who wouldn't want to know about a secret hidden treasure chest and all the glories it may possess.  I would recommend this book to teachers to read to their students simply because it comes with a great lesson: "ALWAYS stick to your gut feeling.  It never steers you wrong".  There are also sequels to this book titled Holes: Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake and Small Steps by the same author.

Classroom Activities:

1.)  A fun and creative way to have children interact with each other could be to read the book and have them make 3D models of what they feel their favorite place in the book looked like such as creating a room that looks like the rec room, the tents or what they feel the outside looked like with all the holes on the ground around the camp.

2.)  Another great activity would be to create a scavenger hunt based on the book but using items that can be found in the classroom.  Give each student a scavenger list that leads to a map to find where Kissin' Kate Barlow's treasure lies.  Inside, you can place items such as school supplies, hall passes and "get out of homework free" cards for students to use.

Goals:

• Creates a sense of navigating around with just clues as well as allowing students to have a fun time that can be interactive that follows and helps them understand mystery as a genre.

Bibliography:

Sachar, L. (2017). Holes. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Company.