Holes

Louise Sachar’s novel Holes is mainly about Stanley Yelnats that was sent to a youth detention camp on the grounds of being accused of stealing a very expensive and unique pair of shoes. The 16-year-old boy is in fact innocent but the warden does not care and all the kids at the camp gets punished by digging holes out in the hot desert.

At the camp he gets to know some of the other kids and at first they are not very friendly but throughout the story they get closer and closer to each other. Further along in the book they realise that digging the holes is not just for punishment but also because the warden is in fact looking for something that is hidden under the ground, and this is where the book really becomes exciting. Another big part of the book is about Stanley and his friends trying to escape the youth detention camp without getting caught by the evil warden.

I would recommend this book mainly to youths because almost all of the main characters are youths and I think you recognise yourself better if you are “one of them”. Not only are there many youths but the language is also youthful which fits right in. With youthful language I refer to slang words like “u” instead of “you” and so on. I liked this book because there was almost always something up so you never got tired of it and you had to keep reading. I think this book is read worthy and would recommend it to teenagers who likes mystery, crime and fiction.

Eric Baumeister. Peer corrected by Nellie Rosén, Tilda Lindström, and Erik Bernhardsson. EKES15