Holes By Louis Sacher
Plot Summary
Camp Green Lake is a boys’ juvenile detention center in Texas. There is no lake there.
The boys spend each day digging five-foot holes in the dried up lakebed. Stanley Yelnats,
a boy who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, is sent there for
stealing a pair of used sneakers that had belonged to a famous baseball player. The
sneakers had actually fallen from an overpass and landed on top of Stanley’s head.
Stanley believes his bad luck is because of a curse placed on his family after his greatgreat-grandfather, Elya Yelnats, stole a pig from a gypsy, Madame Zeroni.
When Elya Yelnats was fifteen he was in love with an empty headed girl. Madame
Zeroni gave Elya a piglet to raise so that he could win the girl’s hand by gifting her father
with a fatted pig. In return, Elya promised to carry Madame Zeroni up a mountain to
drink “where the water runs uphill”. When the girl chooses not to marry Elya, he is so
distraught that he catches a boat to America, forgetting his promise to Madame Zeroni.
The Yelnats family has had bad luck ever since.
At Camp Green Lake Stanley is given the nickname “Caveman”, indicating that for the
first time in his life, Stanley has some acceptance from a peer group. He grows stronger
and tougher as he battles the harsh conditions at the camp, digging in the desert heat.
He befriends a boy called Zero by agreeing to teach him how to read in exchange for
help digging. This upsets the other boys and causes a fight. In the aftermath, Zero hits a
counselor with a shovel and runs away into the desert. It is presumed that Zero will die
out there and no one will care. His records are destroyed.
Deciding to help his friend, Stanley attempts to steal a water truck and go out after Zero.
He drives the truck into a hole, gets out of the truck and runs away. He heads out across
the desert toward a rock formation that looks like “God’s thumb,” the place where his
grandfather, the first Stanley Yelnats, survived after being robbed by Kissin’ Kate Barlow.
One hundred ten years before, Green Lake was a beautiful place where Katherine
Barlow taught school. She fell in love with Sam, the onion man, who sold onions as food
and medicine in the town. Sam fixed up the schoolhouse for Katherine in exchange for
jars of her famous spiced peaches. Because Sam was black and Katherine was white,
when they were seen kissing, the townspeople were outraged. A stupid, arrogant man,
Trout Walker, lead a riot and burned down the schoolhouse, then killed Sam. Grief
stricken, Katherine became the outlaw, Kissin’ Kate Barlow. On the day Sam was killed,
rain stopped falling on Green Lake forever. Years later, Trout Walker and his wife tried
to force Kate to tell them where in the dried up lakebed she had buried her treasure.
Kate refused and died from being bitten by the fatal yellow-spotted lizard before any
treasure was found.
The Warden at Camp Green Lake is a descendant of Trout Walker. She tells people that
the boys there dig holes to build character. In reality, she is continuing the search for
Kate Barlow’s treasure. While digging one of his holes, Stanley finds a gold lipstick tube
with the initials K.B. engraved on it, but he gives it to another boy to turn in to the
Warden. The Warden has the boys dig frantically in the area where she believes the
lipstick tube was buried. Only Stanley knows where it was really found.
Stanley continues to walk across the lakebed and finds Zero under the remains of a
boat. Zero survives by eating the remains of preserved peaches that had sunk with the
boat. Stanley convinces Zero to head toward “God’s thumb” with him. Zero is weak and
sick. They make it to the mountain, but Zero is too weak to climb so Stanley carries him
up. They find wild onions and water that seems to have run uphill at the top of the rock
formation.
After a few days the boys have regained their strength and decide to go back to the
camp to try and dig up Kate Barlow’s treasure. Under cover of night, the boys return to
the hole where Stanley had found the lipstick tube. Stanley digs and unearths a suitcase,
just as the Warden arrives. In the light of flashlights, the boys see that they are covered
with yellow-spotted lizards. They stay completely still until the sun rises and the lizards
go down into the shade, off of the boys.
By then the State Attorney General and a lawyer hired by Stanley’s father arrive. The
Warden tries to claim the suitcase as her own, but Zero, using his newly acquired
reading skills, deciphers the name Stanley Yelnats on the side if the suitcase. The
Attorney General and the lawyer take Stanley away. Stanley refuses to leave without
Zero. There are no longer any records to keep him there, so Zero is released with
Stanley.
It turns out that Zero’s real name is Hector Zeroni. He is the great-great-great-grandson
of Madame Zeroni, the gypsy that had cursed Stanley’s great-great-grandfather. By
carrying Zero up the mountain, Stanley had broken the curse
Summary Analysis of Character List
Stanley Yelnats - The novel's protagonist, Stanley is an overweight kid with a lot of bad
luck. He is convicted of a crime he did not commit and is sent to the Camp Green Lake
juvenile detention center. Non-violent and generally kind, Stanley has a difficult time in
school and at the camp. Through his experience at the hellish Camp Green Lake he
becomes physically stronger and more self-confident. He befriends Zero, another boy at
the camp and through this friendship he succeeds in eradicating his family curse.
Zero - Zero is another camper at Camp Green Lake who becomes friends with Stanley.
Zero is the best digger and generally thought to be stupid by the counselors and the
other boys. In truth, Zero is very smart, although he has never been taught how to read.
Zero is the great-great-great-grandson of Madame Zeroni, the woman who put a curse
on Stanley's family. Zero has suffered many hardships in his life, even more than
Stanley, but he never completely despairs and always shows incredible strength and
willpower.
X-Ray - X-Ray is the leader of the group of boys at Camp Green Lake. Although he is
small and cannot see well, he manages to take charge and have the other boys follow
his orders. He is nice to Stanley when Stanley gives him the gold tube that he finds in the
dirt.
Squid - Squid is another boy at the camp. He is as tough as X-Ray, although he often
follows X-Ray's directions. Squid often taunts Stanley about receiving letters from, and
writing to, his mother. When Stanley is allowed to leave the camp, Squid reveals that he
also cares about his mother and he asks Stanley to call her and tell her that he, Squid, is
sorry.
Magnet - Another boy at the camp, Magnet earned his nickname by his ability to steal
things. "My fingers are like little magnets," he claims after he steals Mr. Sir's sunflower
seeds.
Armpit - Along with Squid, Armpit seems to be one of X-Ray's closest companions. He is
the one that pushes Stanley to the floor when Stanley forgets to call him by his
nickname. It is also Armpit who the Warden gets angry at when she realizes that the
boys are not digging up what she wants.
Warden - The Warden is the ultimate symbol of cruel authority at Camp Green Lake.
She rewards only those who do what she wants and uses her power to threaten
everyone else. She has hidden cameras that she uses to spy on the boys and nail polish
with rattlesnake venom that she will use to scratch those who displease her. She is a
descendent of Charles and Linda Walker and is making the boys dig holes in an attempt
to dig up Kate Barlow's treasure.
Kate Barlow - Kate Barlow is the schoolteacher-turned-outlaw who robbed Stanley's
great- grandfather. She lived on Green Lake one hundred and ten years ago, when there
was still water in it.While intelligent and kind by nature, the murder of her beloved Sam
turns Kate into a violent outlaw who lives on the wrong side of the law.
Sam - Sam and Kate were in love one hundred and ten years ago. Sam knew how to
make many medicinal remedies out of onions and he was strong and smart. He also
loved his donkey, Mary Lou. Because he was black, Sam suffered from racism, which
prevented him from attending school or being with Kate. Sam is killed by the racist
people of Green Lake after he and Kate kiss.
Charles Walker - Charles is the son of the richest family in Green Lake at the same time
that Kate Barlow is the school teacher. He is spoiled and stupid and gets upset when
things are denied to him. When Kate Barlow refuses to go out with him he becomes very
angry. It is Charles who leads the citizens of Green Lake to burn down the schoolhouse
and kill Sam after he kisses Kate. Charles also has a very bad foot odor caused by a
fungus. For this reason people call him Trout, because his feet smell like dead fish.
Elya Yelnats - Elya is Stanley's great-great-grandfather and the reason that Stanley's
family has such bad luck. After becoming disillusioned with the woman he thought he
loved in Latvia, Elya travels to America, forgetting to fulfill a promise that he made to
the gypsy, Madame Zeroni. Elya passes down generations of bad luck to his family. He
also passes down the song that Madame Zeroni taught him while he was still in Latvia.
Madame Zeroni - Madame Zeroni is the great-great-great-grandmother of Hector
Zeroni, Stanley's friend at Camp Green Lake. She gave Stanley's great-great-grandfather
a pig but when he broke his promise of carrying her to the top of a mountain she might
have put a curse on his family.
Stanley Yelnats I - The first Stanley Yelnats is the son of Elya Yelnats and the greatgrandfather of the protagonist Stanley. Kate Barlow robbed the first Stanley Yelnats of
his fortune while he was moving from New York to California. He survived by climbing to
the top of a thumb shaped mountain (which he called God's thumb) which happened to
be Sam's old onion field.
Mrs. Yelnats - Mrs. Yelnats is Stanley Yelnats' mother. She does not believe in curses
and always tries to point out the luck that the Yelnats' have had.
Mr. Yelnats - Mr. Yelnats is Stanley's father. He is an inventor who is smart and
persistent, but unlucky. His attempts to discover a way to recycle old sneakers cause the
Yelnats' apartment to smell very bad. Eventually he discovers a cure to foot odor and is
able to hire the lawyer, Ms. Morengo to get Stanley out of Camp Green Lake.
Mr. Sir - Mr. Sir is one of the counselors at Camp Green Lake. He is tough and mean and
is constantly eating sunflower seeds.
Mr. Pendanski - Mr. Pendanski is in charge of tent D, Stanley's tent at Camp Green
Lake. He seems to be friendly but really he is just as mean as the Warden and Mr. Sir.
This is revealed by his constant taunting of Zero and by his total lack of concern for the
safety of Stanley and Zero when they are covered in deadly yellow-spotted lizards.
Clyde Livingston - Clyde is the famous baseball player whose shoes Stanley is accused
of stealing. He also suffers from the same foot odor that Charles Walker had. Clyde
becomes the spokesman for Stanley's father's cure for foot odor.
Derrick Dunne - Derrick is the bully from Stanley's school. The teachers never believed
that Derrick could bully Stanley because Stanley was so much larger. It is Derrick's
testimony, however, that eventually proves that Stanley is innocent of stealing Clyde
Livingston's shoes.
General Themes

The Power of Fate to Determine Events

The Benefits of Friendship

The Destructive Nature of Cruelty

The Importance of History in Everyday Life
Important Symbols

Onions

Yellow-Spotted Lizards
Author Information
Louis Sachar is an award-winning author of over twenty-one fiction and educational
books for children. Louis's book, Holes, won the prestigious National Book Award and
the Newbery Medal.
Key Facts
Type of work · Novel
Genre · Mystery; folk tale; adventure novel
Time and place written · 1998, Texas
Date of first publication · 1998
Publisher · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Important Quotes
“A lot of people don't believe in curses. A lot of people
don't believe in yellow-spotted lizards either, but if one
bites you, it doesn't make a difference whether you believe
in it or not”.
“His muscles and hands weren't the only parts of his body
that had toughened over the past several weeks. His heart
had hardened as well”.
References
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/
www.amazon.com
http://www.bookrags.com
http://thebestnotes.com/
Allison L. Maretic