Plot
Stanley is given this nickname by the other boys at Camp Green Lake.
What is Caveman ?
This boy is often quiet and distant, but he proves to be an important ally to Stanley later in the story.
Who is Zero?
Stanley and Zero’s growing bond represents this important theme.
What is friendship ?
What kind of climate does Camp Green Lake have?
What is hot and dry (desert-like)?
What state is Camp Green Lake located in?
What is Texas?
This is the reason Stanley Yelnats ends up at Camp Green Lake.
What is being wrongfully accused of stealing a pair of sneakers?
This boy is known for his leadership among the campers and gives Stanley his nickname.
Who is X Ray ?
The Yelnats family believes they suffer from this, due to a broken promise.
What is family curse ?
What unusual rule do the boys have to follow when digging holes?
What is that the hole must be five feet deep and five feet wide?
This character paints her nails with rattlesnake venom.
Who is the Warden ?
Stanley finds this buried item, which he believes might be a treasure, in Chapter 20
What is a gold tubed with the initials KB and a heart craved into it?
This counselor at Camp Green Lake always refers to the boys by their nicknames and says, "You’re not in the Girl Scouts anymore."
Who is Mr. Sir?
Injustice
Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake for stealing shoes he didn’t take.
Why is Camp Green Lake ironically named?
Because there is no lake and nothing green — it’s a dried-up desert.
What is unusual about how Stanley’s first and last name are spelled?
They are palindromes — spelled the same forward and backward.
Stanley discovers this about Zero in Chapter 27, which explains Zero’s behavior at Camp Green Lake
What is Zero can't read or write.
The history of this man is crucial to the novel. He is the one who made the promise to Madame Zeroni that he never kept
What is Elya Yelnats
Corruption & Abuse of Power
The Warden makes the boys dig for her not to “build character.”
How does the setting help isolate the boys from the outside world?
There is no water or resources for 100 miles They cannot run, or they will be buzzard food.
Why are flashbacks used in Holes?
To connect the past to the present and help explain how they all connect.
In the story, a character named Kate Barlow becomes an outlaw. What event causes her transformation from a schoolteacher to an outlaw?
What is the death of her lover, Sam, who was shot because he was black and loved a white woman, Kate?
The backstory of Elya Yelnats and Madame Zeroni is pivotal to the curse. What was the condition of the promise Elya failed to fulfill, and how does it affect his descendants?
What is that Elya promised to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain, but he failed to do so, resulting in the Yelnats family curse?
Inequality
Zero is treated like he’s dumb or invisible because he can’t read and is poor
How does Louis Sachar use weather and the dryness of the land to mirror the emotional atmosphere of the camp?
The dry, dead landscape mirrors the cold, harsh, and lifeless emotional tone created by the adults who run the camp.
This boy is sarcastic and a bit of a troublemaker. He claims to have taken Mr. Sir’s sunflower seeds.
Who is Magnet ?