Holes
By Louis Sachar
Published by Bloomsbury
Price £10.99
Age 10+
Set in a detention centre for juveniles, Holes is an unlikely mixture of adventure, compassion and humour that adds up to a riveting and perceptive story about self-respect. Totally undidactic, it interweaves the world of the contemporary juvenile offenders around a story from the past, revealing how outsiders were treated then.
Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake for a crime he didn't commit. He accepts his punishment as just another example of the bad luck that has dogged his family for generations. At the camp, every boy has to dig a hole 5ft wide and 5ft deep in the dried-up bed of a lake. Why? Because it's good for their character, they are told.
Like all new inmates, Stanley's first days are spent just coping with digging the hole and his raging thirst. Gradually he begins to work with his fellow diggers. Each has their own bad-luck story. Under an uncaring regime, their relationships with each other are vital for their survival and emotional development. Together they begin to question everything, leading to a convincing unravelling of both the story from the past and the reasons for the holes.
