St. Patrick’s NS Craanford: Class Novel
Holes Part One:
Chapters One to Four 3-15:
1. Where is the lake at Camp Green Lake?
2. Who owns the hammock?
3. Where do the rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade from the sun?
4. What happens to a person who is bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard?
5. What type of person was sent to Camp Green Lake?
6. What did the guard have on his lap?
7. What did Stanley have in his backpack?
8. What could you see from the bus?
9. What games did Stanley play with his stuffed animals when he was younger?
10. How did the children at Stanley’s school treat him?
11. What was the “family joke”?
12. According to legend, who cursed the family?
13. Stanley’s Dad was an inventor. What three things did a person need to be a successful inventor?
14. Why did their apartment smell?
15. Which outlaw had robbed Stanley’s great-grandfather’s stagecoach on its way from New York to
California?
16. According to Stanley, how long had the bus journey to Camp Green Lake taken?
17. Describe the man with his feet on the desk?
18. What job did Stanley have to do each day?
19. Would you like to be sent to the camp? Why or why not?
20. How long would Stanley have to spend at Camp Green Lake, according to the prison warden?
Chapters-Five to Six 16-25
1. How many tents were there and which one was Stanley assigned to?
2. Describe Stanley’s Counselor?
3. What “rule” did his counselor mention?
4. How did Stanley’s counselor help him to remember his name?
5. Who was Stanley introduced to by his counselor?
6. Who had slept in Stanley’s cot before him?
7. What did you notice about the names that the boy’s used with each other?
8. How did Theodore react to Stanley’s question?
9. How were Stanley’s first shower and his first dinner?
10. Was he a good eater?
11. What was Stanley’s crime?
12. What had the police used from Stanley’s room to convict him?
13. What was the worst thing for Stanley?
14. Did Stanley’s school tackle his bullying problem?
15. How did the sneakers come into Stanley’s possession?
16. Why do you think that Stanley ran?
17. How did the judge describe Stanley’s “crime”?
18. What was the best thing about breakfast?
19. What should the diggers do if they found anything interesting?
20. What choice did the judge give to Stanley’s parents?
Chapter Seven 26-40
1. How successful was Stanley on his first outing to dig?
2. How do you know that it was still very early?
3. What did the dug up landscape remind Stanley of?
4. What would the Warden give if he liked something a digger found?
5. What were the boys digging for?
6. What did Stanley think after digging his first shovelful?
7. What occurred to him after several more shovelfuls?
8. Where was Stanley’s great-great-grandfather from?
9. What advice did Madame Zeroni give Elya Yelnats?
10. How did Madame Zeroni describe Myra Menke?
11. What warning did Madame Zeroni give to Elya if he failed the task she had set for him?
12. Why did Stanley feel dizzy?
13. What did Mr. Sir spit into the hole that Stanley had dug so far?
14. Why didn’t Elya carry the pig up the hill on the last day?
15. How did Stanley try to avoid the pain in his hands?
16. Which number from one to ten did Elya choose?
17. What did Magnet advise before using a hole to go to the toilet?
18. When did Elya remember his promise to Madame Zeroni?
19. Why didn’t Stanley accept a lift in the truck?
20. What do you think of the “family curse”
Chapters-Eight to Eleven 41-54
1. How many spots does a yellow-spotted lizard have?
2. Why didn’t Stanley use soap in the shower?
3. What does the abbreviation “rec” stand for?
4. What did Stanley intend to do in the rec room?
5. What caused Stanley to stop writing?
6. What did Stanley realise when Armpit and Squid asked him to go to dinner?
7. What had Stanley learned from digging his first hole?
8. How did he change his grip?
9. What did he find during his second digging?
10. How did Mr.Pendanski react to the fossil rock?
11. What did X-Ray ask Stanley when he came over to his hole?
12. Why hadn’t X-Ray found anything so far?
13. Was Stanley glad about the arrangement he had made with X-Ray?
14. Why didn’t Stanley expect to find anything of interest?
15. What thought made Stanley happy as he went on digging?
16. What was remarkable about the camp in the way it was different to school?
17. What did Stanley imagine about the camp boys and his school?
18. Which scene did he play over and over again in his head?
19. Did this thought help him to dig?
20. How do you feel for Stanley now?
Chapters-Twelve to Fourteen 55-68
1. Where did Stanley sit in the circle?
2. What was the group discussing?
3. What did Magnet like?
4. What made Zero laugh?
5. What is a Jack’o lantern?
6. Was Stanley’s answer the one Mr. Pendanski was expecting?
7. What do you think of Zero’s answer?
8. How did the digging affect Stanley?
9. Describe the item that Stanley found after two weeks at Camp Green Lake?
10. What was the result in the line up of Stanley’s find?
11. What did Stanley ask X-Ray at breakfast the next day?
12. How did the boys know where to dig each day?
13. How did X-Ray tell Mr. Pendanski about “his” find?
14. Who came back with Mr. Pendanski?
15. Why was Stanley surprised when the Warden called him?
16. What did she ask Stanley?
17. How did she treat Mr. Pendanski?
18. What choice did she give him?
19. Were you surprised that the Warden was a woman when you first found out?
20. Give a physical description of the Warden?
Chapters-Fifteen to Seventeen 69-79
1. Why did the Warden poke X-Ray’s dirt pile?
2. Who took over the digging of X-ray’s hole in the ground?
3. What reward did X-Ray get?
4. What did the boys use to move the dirt?
5. How did Stanley know that they wouldn’t find anything?
6. Why was the Warden moving about continuously?
7. What theory had Zigzag for the Warden knowing all their names?
8. Were the boys “digging to build character”?
9. Why did Stanley “dig” the previous day’s hole into his memory?
10. Why was X-Ray joking with the other boys in the wreck room?
11. What initials did Stanley think about while wheelbarrowing?
12. What did Mr. Pendanski bring into the wreck room for Stanley?
13. Did Zero get the joke about the little old lady who lived in a shoe?
14. Why did the Warden become impatient?
15. How did the Warden react to Armpit as he returned from his toilet break?
16. Whose shovel clashed with Stanley’s head?
17. Who called Mr. Pendanski?
18. What did they use as a bandage?
19. Who was waiting for Stanley when he got back into the hole?
20. Which piece of dirt was Zigzag referring to?
Chapters-Eighteen to Twenty 80-91
1. Give two reasons why Stanley was glad to be away from the big hole?
2. Why didn’t Stanley go to the wreck room?
3. What did Stanley discover about Zero?
4. Why was Stanley surprised?
5. How had Stanley changed apart the obvious physical changes?
6. What did Zero wish to learn?
7. Which sound woke Stanley one night?
8. What does the term “racial problems” mean?
9. What had Magnet stolen?
10. How did Stanley get into trouble as a result of Magnet’s theft?
11. How did Stanley try to avoid trouble?
12. Where did Mr. Sir bring Stanley?
13. Did Mr. Sir believe his explanation?
14. What did the Warden ask Stanley to get from the adjoining room?
15. How did the Warden make her own nail polish?
16. Were you surprised when the Warden struck Mr. Sir?
17. What was the result of her strike on his face?
18. Why was there a delayed reaction from Mr. Sir?
19. Would you have felt relieved if you were Stanley at this point?
20. How do you think Stanley felt after the Warden’s last comment?
Chapters-Twenty-one to Twenty-eight 92-123
1. Who rescued Stanley’s great-grandfather after Kissin’ Kate Barlow had left him stranded?
2. What did Zero say to Stanley about his “crime”?
3. Would you describe Zero as a good learner? Why?
4. Why did Trout Walker find it difficult to understand Kate Barlow’s rejection of his advances?
5. What revenge did Mr. Sir exact on Caveman?
6. Why did people go to Sam as well as Dr.Hawthorn?
7. How did Sam help Miss Barlow?
8. Why couldn’t Sam attend Miss Barlow’s classes?
9. What was happening as Sam was working on the schoolhouse?
10. How did the town react to the news of the teacher and the onion picker?
11. Where did Miss Barlow find Sam?
12. Were the other boys happy over Stanley’s digging arrangement with Zero?
13. What was Zero’s real name?
14. Where did Kate Barlow live when she returned to Green Lake twenty years later?
15. How was she awoken three months after her return to Green Lake?
16. What had happened to Charles Walker’s wealth?
17. Describe the woman who was with Trout?
18. What were they looking for?
19. What happened Kate Barlow after she fell?
20. How did Kissin’ Kate feel as she died?
Holes Part Two:
Chapters-Twenty-nine to Thirty-four 127-154
1. What did Caveman think that he saw during a flash of lightning?
2. Why do you think that the other boys teased Stanley as Zero helped him to dig?
3. Why was Stanley surprised with Mr. Pendanski’s advice about dealing with Zigzag who was bullying
him?
4. How did Mom break up the fight?
5. What did some boys tell the warden when she came over?
6. What did Zero mean when he said that he wasn’t digging another hole?
7. Why didn’t the counselors just shoot Zero after he had hit Mr. Pendanski?
8. Who was Stanley most angry with?
9. What nickname was given to the new arrival?
10. How did Stanley make his escape?
11. In which direction did he venture?
12. Why did Stanley look into each hole that he passed?
13. What caused the illusion of a pool of water?
14. When Stanley found Hector, where was he hiding?
15. How do you think that the boat got its name?
Chapters-Thirty-five to Thirty-seven155-169
1. What was Zero’s first question to Caveman?
2. What did Stanley notice about himself as he squeezed under the boat?
3. What had Zero found under the boat?
4. How did the sploosh taste?
5. How had Barf Bag been injured?
6. What did Stanley point out to Hector?
7. What warning did Stanley give to Hector as they headed off from the boat?
8. What thought came to Stanley when he looked at Zero’s shovel?
9. How did the spelling game help them on their journey?
10. What worried Stanley most about dying?
11. What joke did Stanley make about the top of God’s thumb?
12. Why did they have to climb?
13. What did the presence of the weeds and bugs indicate to Stanley?
14. What did Hector say would happen him if a gnat landed on him?
15. What was the wrenching sound that Stanley heard?
Chapters-Thirty-eight to Forty-one 170-184
1. What did Stanley do with Zero?
2. What smell did Stanley get as he got closer to God’s thumb?
3. Where did he fall as he carried Zero?
4. What did Stanley find when he dug in the mud?
5. What “confession” did Hector Zeroni make to Stanley at God’s thumb?
6. What did Sam ask for instead of charity?
7. Why was Mrs. Tennyson grateful to Sam?
8. Why did Stanley want to go for the shovel?
9. Why did he not want to leave Zero alone?
10. How had the rest and the onions helped the two boys?
11. What surprised Stanley about where he found the shovel and sack?
12. What did the term “ward of state” mean?
13. How did Stanley like to eat the onions?
14. Where did Zero put the shoes when he realised that people were looking for them?
15. Why did Zero get arrested the day after getting rid of Clyde Livingston’s shoes?
Chapters-Forty-two to Forty-three 185-197
1. How did the boys separate the water from the dirt?
2. What had they survived on while they were at God’s thumb?
3. What did Stanley realise as he lay awake at God’s thumb one night?
4. How did Stanley feel about Zero’s crime now?
5. What “last hole” did Stanley want Zero to help him dig?
6. Why did Stanley want enough time at the camp?
7. What did they do with their caps before they left God’s thumb?
8. Why didn’t the jars smash when Stanley fell?
9. What became a challenge between the two boys?
10. Why did they decide to drink from the jars first, and the canteen last?
11. What did Zero talk about when they sat down at the boat?
12. What did Zero realise about the direction in which they were walking?
13. What sound did they hear as they came near to the camp?
14. How did Stanley prevent the jars from clanking against each other?
15. For what reason did the boys wait in two adjacent holes?
Chapters-Forty-four to Forty-six 198-210
1. Why was Stanley surprised to hear Zero whispering to him?
2. How did Stanley check what he was digging?
3. What did Zero bring back to Stanley from the camp?
4. Why did Stanley have to dig carefully after locating the chest in the hole?
5. How did he decide to get it out?
6. What shone in Stanley’s face as he climbed out of the hole?
7. Why did the Warden back away a little from Zero and Caveman?
8. Why did Stanley want to scream when he looked down?
9. What did the Warden say about digging when she was a young girl?
10. Why did the Warden say, “It won’t be long now”?
11. Why did the Warden begin to make up a story about Stanley and Zero?
12. Which particular incident did Stanley think about from when he was younger to block out what was
happening to him?
13. What order did the Warden give to the counselors?
14. Which sign did Zero give to Stanley?
15. Who stayed with the Warden to guard the two boys?
Chapters-Forty-seven to Forty-nine 211-225
1. What name did Zero call out?
2. What made the lizards move lower in the hole?
3. What did Zero ask Stanley about his name?
4. What lie did the Warden tell the lady who arrived?
5. How did the Warden pretend to care for Zero?
6. What food did Mr. Pendanski give to Stanley and Hector?
7. How did the boys from tent D treat Stanley as they gathered around him?
8. What excuse did the Warden give for not having Hector’s files?
9. What effect did onion juice in your bloodstream have on the lizards?
10. Why did Ms. Morengo drive with thee windows open?
11. What type of lawyer was Ms. Morengo?
12. How had she been helping Stanley’s Dad?
13. Who had given Stanley an alibi?
14. Why was this ironic?
15. What type of product had Stanley’s Dad invented?
Holes Part Three:
Chapter Fifty 229-233:
1. What does destiny mean? Give an example from the story.
2. What happened the day after Stanley carried Hector up to God’s thumb?
3. What happened to Camp Green Lake?
4. What were the most valuable things in the suitcase?
5. What did Stanley and Hector do with the money?
6. What were they watching on television in the final scene of this book?
7. Who was starring in the television ad and actually sitting beside Stanley on the couch?
8. What had Stanley’s Dad called the foot spray?
9. Who was fluffing Hector’s hair?
10. What song was she singing?