Holes

Sachar, L. (2000). Holes.  New York: Random House.

Holes is a 1999 Newbery Medal winner, as well as a novel that appears on the 1999 Notable Books for Children List (listing as one of my Notable Books for Children).

Exposition:
The story is told in third person limited point of view.  The narrator focuses on Stanley Yelnats, the main character.  Stanley is introduced and described in the third chapter.  He is an overweight boy who is often bullied by his classmates.  The reader also learns about Camp Green Lake in chapters 1 & 2.  Camp Green Lake is a juvenile facility in a hot and dry area of Texas.  The name is misleading since there is no longer a lake.

Conflict:
Stanley is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers.  The sneakers belonged to a famous baseball player and was supposed to be auctioned off for charity.  While Stanley was walking home one day from school, the shoes fell on him from an overpass and he was caught with them.  As punishment, he is sent to Camp Green Lake.

Rising Action:
When Stanley arrives at Camp Green Lake, he learns that he is expected to dig a five foot deep hole each day to build character.  At first it is a difficult task, but as the days pass, he becomes stronger and it becomes somewhat easier.  He is also told that if he finds anything interesting, the warden will give him the day off from digging.  One of the boys named X-Ray, the leader of the group, convinces Stanley to give him anything that he finds.  One day he finds a gold tube with the initials KB on it and he gives it X-Ray.  When X-Ray turns it in, the warden makes them dig constantly in the area where they found it.  However, Stanley found it in a diferent area from where X-Ray said. 
Throughout this section of the book, the author also gives the reader some background information on Stanley's ancestors.  Stanley's great great grandfather caused his entire family to be cursed because he broke a promise he made to Madam Zeroni.  He promised her that he would carry her up the mountain to drink from the water at the top.  Since that time, Stanley and everyone in his family has had bad luck.  Stanley's great grandfather's fortune was stolen by an outlaw named Kissin' Kate Barlow.  Stanley's great grandfather survived in the desert by staying in God's thumbprint.  Kate had been a school teacher in Green Lake, until she was caught kissing a black man named Sam.  Sam was killed, and Kate became an outlaw when she shot the sheriff.  After Sam's death, it stopped raining in Green Lake and the lake dried up.  Kate supposedly buried her treasure in the area. 
Stanley takes the blame for stealing sunflower seeds from one of the camp counselors and he gets in trouble with the warden.  He realizes that the tube he found was a lid to a lipstick tube.  He also realizes that they are digging because the warden is looking for Kate's treasure.  Stanley begins teaching another boy, Zero, to read.  In exchange, Zero begins digging part of Stanley's holes.  The counselor's are tough on Zero and he runs away.  After a couple of days, Stanley runs away to find Zero.  He finds Zero and starts going towards the mountains and a rock formation that looks like a thumbprint.  He remembers that his great grandfather survived in the area by staying there and he thinks there must be water. 

Climax:
The two boys almost die, but when Zero collapses, Stanley carries him up the mountain to the rock formation and he finds water.  Stanley's luck changes, because Zero (Hector Zeroni) is a descendent of Madam Zeroni and Stanley fulfilled the promise.

Falling Action:
Stanley and Zero rest and get stronger in the mountain.  Zero confesses that he stole the shoes that Stanley was in trouble for stealing.  Stanley decides to find Kate's treasure and leave Camp Green Lake.  They go back at night and dig in the area where he found the lipstick tube.  He finds a suitcase, but the warden catches them.  Poisonous yellow spotted lizards cover the two boys, so the warden can't take the suitcase from them.  She decides to wait until the lizards bite them and they die, but the lizards never bite.  Then, a lawyer arrives and says she is Stanley's lawyer.  He has been found innocent and he is to be released immediately.  The warden says that he and Zero tried to steal her suitcase, but the suitcase has Stanley Yelnats printed on it.  It belonged to his great grandfather. 

Resolution:
Stanley and Zero get to leave Camp Green Lake.  The suitcase's contents were worth almost $1 million each for Stanley and Zero.  The curse was lifted and life improved for both boys.  The state shut down Camp Green Lake.

Literary Elements:
The story uses flashbacks interspersed throughout the plot to give the reader information about Stanley's ancestors and also Kate and Green Lake.  The novel is also full of irony.  It is ironic that so many coincidences come together to put the person who stole the shoes in the same place as Stanley, and Stanley in the same place where his great grandfather was robbed.