Holes: Digging for Friendship

The movie HOLES follows the trials of Stanley Yelnats, played by the amiable Shia Leboeuf. He is a teenager convicted of a crime he did not commit and is soon sent to Camp Greenlake for punishment. Despite its suggestive name, Camp Greenlake is located far from any lakes, deep in the desert. Here, Stanley and other interred kids work by digging holes — hence the name of the story. That is all Stanley and his friends do: dig holes for hours on end. What they did not know is why.

While interred at Camp Greenlake, Stanley finally makes a friend named Zero, who seldom speaks. During lunch one day, Stanley tells the rest of the boys what he did to earn his place at the camp. He claims a pair of sneakers had fallen and hit him on the head — before he could explain, he was arrested for theft. Turns out the sneakers belonged to a famous ball player, named Clyde “Sweet Feet” Livingston, who had donated them to an orphanage. Alarmingly, Zero asks him if they were white with red stripes. Stanley, stunned, asks him “How did you know?”

As time goes by, the two become close friends. Zero explains his name is really Hector Zeroni, but because he never speaks, people assume he is an idiot, hence his nickname. They strike a deal wherein Hector agrees to dig the holes if Stanley will teach him how to read. This arrangement does not sit well with the other boys and they soon report this to the doctor on staff. Hector ends up hitting the doctor with the shovel and runs off into the desert. Fearing for his friend, Stanley devises a plan to escape. Twist and turns abound as you find that these two boys’ families are entangled for several generations.

Now, if you enjoyed the film, you will love the book. There are more intricate details and developments than the screen can accommodate. HOLES, the book, written by Louis Sachar, has garnered a host of awards, among them: the Newberry Award, the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and the Missouri Mark Twain Award.

It is no wonder the book was so deserving. Though considered a piece of light fiction, it touched upon some very serious issues, including child mistreatment at the camp and even racism. Most of the topics made it into the film as the author also wrote the screenplay. The biggest difference between the two versions is Stanley’s character. In the book, he was overweight and many of the issues in the book stem from his lack of self-esteem because of his weight.