Mo Johnson

Core 4

3-24-19

Holes

Stanley Yelnats is a young boy who has bad luck because of a curse placed on his great grandfather, is sent to a juvenile detention center for something he did not do. At camp, the boys are forced to dig holes. After a little while, Stanley figures out that they are digging for something that the Warden, the people who run the center, are looking for.

One hundred or so years before Stanley arrived at camp, Camp Green Lake was a beautiful place to go, with beautiful scenery and blossoms blooming. In the town of Texas, the schoolteacher Kathrine Barlow falls in love with a local onion seller. Sam sells onions to help with medical purposes. In their time racism is established. It is against the law for a black man to kiss a white woman. Because Sam is black and Katherine is white the city becomes enraged Charles Walker has always wanted to marry Katherine, and when he finds out that they have kissed, Charles orders the city people to take down the schoolhouse and attack Sam. Katherine looks for help from a nearby sheriff, but then later realizes he also wants to kill Sam. They try to escape on a boat, but their boat s destroyed, and Sam is killed. Kate then becomes known as Kissin’ Kate Barlow. She spent 20 years robbing and stealing. She happens to rob Stanley’s grandfather and hide the money. Everyone tries to torture her into telling them where the money is. Kate then dies and no one knows where the money is hidden. Eventually, people started to move out of there and it became a place for juvenile felons.

Stanley has a hard time digging there because of how hot and dry it is. One day he finds a half a lipstick tube with the initials KB on it. Stanley knows that the Warden happens to be ken to Charles and Linda Walker, and would be very interested in this find. He wonders if Kate Barlow used to live in the area. Stanley tries to stay on positive vibes with the leader of the group, Xray. Stanley becomes closer with a boy named Zero. Zero is very weak, so Stanley has to help him out a lot.  

Stanley and Zero find a suitcase with Stanley’s name on it. The Warden attempts to take the suitcase from them. Stanley’s lawyer shows up and says that he is innocent, and he gets to leave camp.

It turns out that the suitcase has many valuable items, and is the suitcase that Kate Barlow stole from Stanley’s grandfather, whose name is also Stanley Yelnats.

In the end, the curse seems like it is raised from the family, and Stanley has improved his physical strength in addition to making a true friend.