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PART ONE: YOU ARE ENTERING CAMP GREEN LAKE
Chapter 1:
What will happen to you if you get bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard?
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Chapter 2:
How do you turn a bad boy into a good boy?
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Chapter 3:
Stanley Yelnats is introduced as the main protagonist. His name is a palindrome. What does this mean? Write 2 examples of palindromes
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Complete the following table using the information given in the chapter.
Stanley’s personal traits
Family history
Chapter 4:
Highlight the 5 wor ds that best describe the “tone’ of the environment at Camp Green Lake calm normal hostile peaceful threatening hospitable comfortable welcoming dangerous relaxing inhospitable ominous
List the items that Stanley is given at the camp.
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Mr Sir uses the metaphor “You’ll be buzzard food in 3 days” to convince Stanley of what?

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Chapter 5:
All the boys in “D” tent have nicknames and so do some of the other characters. Complete the following chart to show what the nicknames show about the characters. You will need to return to the table as you read the novel.
Nickname Real name Reason for nickname/character trait that name shows
Barf Bag
X-Ray
Armpit
Magnet
Zigzag
Squid
Zero
Caveman
Twitch
Mom
Mr. Sir
The Warden
Kissin’ Kate Miss Katherine
Barlow
Chapter 6:
Outline in 6 to 8 dot points the events of “Stanley’s last day at school”, commencing with what happens to his notebook and ending with his arrest.
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Was Stanley’s problem bad luck, destiny or the fault of the curse on his great great grandfather?
Use evidence from your reading to support your opinion.
Chapter 7:
Outline the story of Elya Yelnats, Madame Zeroni and the family curse.
Chapters 8 & 9:
Draw and label a picture of a “Yellow-spotted lizard (p41) or a plan of the “Wreck room (p 43)
Chapter 10:
What did Stanley find?
What does this show?
How does Stanley feel about….? Chapters 2 – 10

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The showers The food The rules of the camp
Himself
Arguments
The other boys
The wreck room Mr Sir Digging the holes
Chapter 11:
What does Stanley imagine happening to the school bully and how does thi s “ease his own suffering”?

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Chapter 12:
What questions is Mr. Pendanski asking the boys? What is he trying to get them to think about?
Chapter 13:
Draw and label what Stanley finds in this chapter.
Chapter 14:
What does the Warden look like? Describe how she treats others.
Chapter 15:
What does the author mean w hen he says Stanley “dug the hole into his memory”?
Chapter 16:
What does “stared blankly” mean?
Chapter 17:
Who is injured by whom in this chapter?
Chapter 18:
What do we learn about Zero in this chapter?
“His muscles and hands weren’t the only parts of his body that had toughened..” (P82) What does this show us about Stanley?

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Chapter 19:
What is revealed about Squid?
Why did Stanley claim he stole Mr Sir’s sunflower seeds?
Chapter 20:
What does the Warden do to Mr Sir?
Chapter 21:
“He won’t die…unfortunately for you.” What does this mean?
Chapter 22:
What else do we learn about Zero?
Chapter 23:
List a metaphor and a simile from p 102
Chapter 24:
How did Mr Sir get his revenge on Stanley?

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Chapter 25:
Why do you think Kate is attracted to “Sam the Onion Man”? Why was this unacceptable in those days?
Chapter 26:
Explain how Miss Barlow the school teacher became “Kissin’ Kate” the bandit.
WRITING FOLIO PIECE: Write the Green Lake newspaper report that covers the events at the schoolhouse. Use the “Green Lake Informer” for details and ideas
Chapter 27:
What is Zero’s full name? How is this connected to Stanley’s family history?
Chapter 28:
How is Kate killed? What were her last words?
Shoes are one of the symbols used in Holes to link the stories. Explain this connection.
FIND THE FOLLOWING:
Alliteration (p123) ________________________________________________________________
Metaphor (P95) ______________________________________________________________

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Simile (p 58) ___________________________________________________________________
Personification (p103) ____________________________________________________________
Onomatopoeia (p106) ____________________________________________________________
“Myra’s head is as empty as a flowerpot” (p29) _________________________________________
“A pair of sneakers fell on top of him….like a gift from God” (p24) ____________________________
“sparkled like a giant emerald in the sun” (P101) _______________ suspicious (P71) ___________________ untreatable (p102) ___________________ terror (p88) ______________________ piercing (p82) ________________________
PART TWO: THE LAST HOLE
Chapter 29:
Draw the rock formation that Stanley thought he saw on the horizon in the box. How is this connected to Stanley’s past?
Chapter 30:
Why do you think that Zigzag picks the fight with Stanley? Why do the other boys and Mr Pendanski encourage the fight? What ends up happening?
What does Zero do to “Mom’? Why?
“It’s almost time for me to paint my nails again” (p140). What do you think the Warden is suggesting and intending to do?
Chapter 31:
Why does the Warden order Mom to destroy Zero’s records? What is your opinion of Mr Pendanski?

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Chapter 32:
Who is the new kid assigned to the group? What was his crime?
Why does Stanley steal the water truck? What happens?
Chapter 33:
Find an example of alliteration
Chapter 34:
Draw and label what Stanley finds in the dry lakebed. What conclusions or connections can the reader make from this?
Chapter 35:
What is revealed about “Barf Bag”?
What is wrong with Zero? What has he been surviving on?

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Chapter 36:
Write the quotation from p 160 that sums up Zero’s view on life. What do you think it means?
Chapter 37:
Why was Stanley scared that they were almost there?
Chapter 38:
What was “a hot fudge sundae”? Explain this metaphor. (P 172)
What do you think of Stanley and Zero at the end of this chapter?
Chapter 39:
What does Zero’s confession reveal?
Complete the Venn diagram for Stanley and Zero

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Chapter 40:
Why is the story of Sam’s onion tonic told in this chapter? What is the author suggesting?
What does Stanley realise at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 41:
What does Zero reveal about the stolen shoes? From whom did he learn to steal?
Chapter 42:
Stanley is trying to decide if being hit by the tennis shoes was coincidence, fate or destiny. Write a paragraph explaining your viewpoint Use specific references to the novel to support your opinion.
Chapter 43:
What metaphors are used to describe the lake and surrounding mountains (p192) and Stanley
(p193)?
Summarise Zero’s memories of his childhood in 3 or 4 sentences.

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What do you think happened to Zero’s mother?
Chapter 44:
Draw and label what the boys found.
Chapter 45:
What are the Warden, Mr S ir and Mom discussing? Who is the “woman” that they refer to?
What is revealed about the Warden’s childhood?
Chapter 46:
Summarise what happens in this chapter.
Chapter 47:
What does Zero’s revelation about palindromes indicate?
Who are the strangers?
Who is Mrs Walker and how is she connected to the history of Green Lake?
Chapter 48:
Explain the irony behind Zero being released from the camp.
Chapter 49:
Explain the importance of the line ‘the lizards don’t like onion blood”.

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What does Ms Morengo reveal?
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Why do you think that it rained for the first time in over a hundred years?
Chapter 50:
How did Stanley lift the curse?
PART THREE: FILLING IN THE HOLES
What did the suitcase contain?
Why did they call the foot deodorant “Sploosh”?
Louis Sachar did not include titles for his chapters in Holes. Go back and review the following chapters and give them titles. Make your titles as catchy or creative as possible.
Chapter No Title Why?

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38
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Read the following opinions about events in the book. Do you agree or not? State your opinion using complete sentences and give specific evidence from the book to support it.
Stanley did not have any friends because he was overweight.
Mr Pendanski was truly concerned about the well-being of all the boys.
Camp Green Lake was a positive experience for Stanley.
FACT OR OPINION: Identify the following incidents from the novel as fact (something that can be proved or verified) or opinion (something that one person or group believes to be true)
______ 1. ZigZag told the other boys it was his birthday.
_____ 2. Stanley was almost as good at digging as Zero.
_____ 3. Kate Barlow robbed Stanley’s great grandfather and left him stranded in the desert.
_____4. Mr Pendanski fired his gun in the air to stop the fight.
_____ 5. The boys had to dig holes because it was good for them.
_____ 6. Barf Bag deliberately stepped on a rattlesnake.
_____ 7. Onions are delicious and nutritious.
_____ 8. Stanley stepped backwards, away from the lizards.

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_____9. No one helped Stanley dig Zero’s hole after he left.
____10. Stanley had a good idea for himself and Zero to escape Camp Green Lake.
CAUSE AND EFFECT:
Example: Cause : The student studied very hard. Effec t: The student earned an A on the test
Causes
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Effects
Mr Sir does not give Stanley any water
Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake
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Magnet steals Mr Sirs sunflower seeds
The warden scratches Mr Sir
Stanley agrees to teach Zero to read
Stanley’s great-great-grandfather forgot to honour a promise.
Stanley was caught with stolen shoes
Stanley does not have many friends
Stanley writes home about swimming and water skiing
Stanley’s family is cursed with bad luck
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Stanley gives X-Ray the gold tube he finds The other boys in Group D harass
Stanley
Stanley is overweight. Stanley is taken to see the warden
Stanley does not want his mother to worry.
Zero digs part of Stanley’s hole each day
Stanley moves up a place in the water line
Stanley and Zero become friends
10 Stanley digs a hole every day. Stanley becomes stronger