BR: Holes (Louis Sachar)

Amazon Link: Holes

The back cover reads:

Stanley Yelnats isn't too surprised to find himself at Camp Green Lake, digging holes in the dried-up lake bed, day after scorching day. After all, his family has a history of bad luck.

The boys at Camp Green Lake must dig one hole each day, five feet deep and five feet across. But what are they diggting for? Why did Green Lake dry up? And what do onions and lizards have to do with it all? The answers lie in Stanley's own past...

I found this book at 'Back to Booktown 2008' in the nothing over $1 section. I paid 50 cents, knew up-front that it was a kids book, and really wasn't expecting too much from it. Now, I won't lie and say it's a literary masterpiece, but it is a damn good read. Equally entertaining for kids and adults.

Stanley Yelnats (his name can be spelled backwards) is a fat kid with a strong sense of family loyalty, and a solid belief in superstition, particularly a curse that was put on the family some years before. He finds himself at Camp Green Lake, a detention centre for delinquent boys, after being wrongly accused of stealing a pair of running shoes... no ordinary running shoes though, of course. He accepts his fate, convinced that this is all just part of the curse and that as long as he's careful, avoids the deadly spotted lizards and doesn't upset the warden, he'll get out of it all unscathed.

The boys aren't just made to dig holes because it exhausts them, keeps them occupied and shapes them into better people, no there's a bigger game at play, one which proves to be potentially deadly.

Coincidence plays a big part in this story, with unlikely connections proving paramount to the plot and to Stanley's fate. Each revelation is handled well, hinted at before connections are made, and the underlying logic (though realistically implausible) is convincing within the established scenario.

The story moves quickly, with equal measure of action and interaction between the boys and the adults. A serious undertone of social inequality and child neglect is dealt with so as to not overwhelm younger readers, but while not ignoring that this is a real issue for many teenagers of Stanley's age. This is a great read for kids, and equally enjoyable for adults.

Rating: ***1/2 out of five.