Novels

 

Title: Holes by: Louis Sachar

Publisher: Yearling, 1998

Reading Level: 5.2

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Pages: 233

 

Summary: Ever since Stanley Yelnats no-good-pig-stealin' grandpa did not keep up with his end of the deal with Madame Zeroni, the Yelnats family has been cursed with terrible luck. Stanly Yelnats is an overweight middle school boy who has no friends. One day, his bad luck lands him in front of a judge for being accused of stealing a pair of shoes that the famous baseball player, Sweet Feet, donated to the homeless shelter. Instead of sending him to jail, the judge sentenced Stanley to serve for 18 months at Camp Green Lake.

    Each boy at Camp Green Lake is supposed to dig one hole 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep every day. The boys are told that digging the holes are supposed to help them build character. Stanley soon realizes, though, that the boys are digging holes for another reason besides building character. They discover that they are digging holes to help the warden search for the missing treasure of Kissing Kate Barlow, a school teacher turned renegade when the town killed the love of her life because he was black. Any time a boy found something that looked like it was of value, they were supposed to bring it to the warden, and then that boy would get the day off.

    One day while digging his hole, Zero, one of the boys in Stanley's group decided he had had enough of digging holes, so he ran away from the camp. No one chased after him because they figured he wouldn't survive without water, and the nearest water source to Camp Green Lake was hundreds of miles away. Because Zero was a ward of the state, the warden and the camp counselors didn't think anyone would come looking for him and destroyed all of his documents. Stanley knew he should go after him, so a few days after Zero took off, Stanley stole the camp truck and drove after him. Unfortunately, he drove it right into a hole and was forced to run away from the camp. It took him a while to find Zero, but eventually Stanley found Zero under the shade of broken boat. He had survived off of sploosh, jarred peaches that he found in the boat. Stanley and Zero decided to head towards the mountain and a precipice on top of the mountain that Stanley believed to be God's Thumb, the thing that saved his grandfather a hundred years earlier. They had no water and little to no energy, but they eventually made it to the mountain. Stanley had to carry Zero to God's Thumb because he was sick from eating the Sploosh. The boys found that God's Thumb had water and onions, lots and lots of onions. They stayed there drinking water and eating onions for about a week until they regained their strength.

    Once they were strong enough, the boys went back to camp to try to dig up the hole where Stanley had found the lipstick tube of Kate Barlow. They found the treasure but were caught by the warden and the counselors before they could get the treasure out of the hole. The warden didn't shoot them, though, because they were covered by yellow-spotted lizards. The lizards didn't bite the boys because the onions they had been eating were a repellant to lizards. While they were still in the hole, Stanley's lawyer showed up and took custody of him and Zero. In the mean time, the attorney general took over the care of the camp. Stanley and Zero split the money from the treasure. Stanley bought his family a nice home, and Zero hired a detective to find his mother. They all lived happily ever after, except for the warden of course.

 

Recommended Readers: I really think that every person could benefit from reading this book. It tells a story about people from rough backgrounds figuring out how to get along with each other, and it shows that it is possible to get out of hard situations. Little boys would especially like this book because it is about playing the dirt and digging holes.

 

Possible Problems: This book talks about some events in history that some parents may not feel is appropriate for their children. It talks about a black man who is killed for kissing a white woman. Even though these things did happen in history, it might offend some readers. Also, there is some violence in the book.

 

Reactions: I love this book! There is so much in the book to think about that it never gets boring. The characters in the book are all really fun. I love how all of the different parts of the story of both Stanley, Stanley's great grandpa, and Kate Barlow all come together in the end. It is a book that you finish and just feel content.

 

Title: "Star Girl" by Jerry Spinelli

Publisher: Random House, Inc. 200

Grade Level: 6.1

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Pages: 283

Summary: The students at Mica Area High School in Mica, Arizona can all pretty well be placed into a classification. There are the basketball players, the cheerleaders, the AV guys, etc. All of the students seem to respect the status quo. That is until Star Girl shows up. Star Girl enters high school after being homeschooled previously, and Mica High didn't know what hit them.

    No one can seem to fit Star Girl into a mold. She definitely dances to the beat of her own drum. Every day she comes dressed in outrageous costumes. Before every class, she spreads a sheet over her desk and places a vase with a flower in it on top of her desk to make it seem homier. She plays the ukulele around the school and serenades people on their birthdays. Every day she carries her pet rat, cinnamon, with her to school.

    At first the student body does not react warmly to Star Girl because she is so different from everybody else. Pretty soon, though, they became drawn to individuality. There was something about her that attracted people to her. People began dressing like Star Girl and playing the ukulele like her. Borders between the cliques in the school began to break. They made Star Girl a cheerleader on the squad, and her energy and enthusiasm brought a crowd to the games like MAHS had never seen before. She was so excited that it made the usually reserved and uninvolved student body of MAHS come out and support their team. She was so enthusiastic that she even cheered for the other team.

    Slowly, though, the student body, led by Hillary Kimble, became weary of Star Girl. She said her own words to the Pledge of Allegience, showed up to a funeral of a person that she didn't know, and bought a bike for a boy who had just been in an bicycle accident and wouldn't be allowed to ride it for at least a year. These little well-intentioned gestures could be forgiven, but the students at MAHS could not forgive her for what happened at the Sun Valley game. As usual Star Girl was cheering for both teams. For the first time that season, the MAHS basketball team were losing. The first ray of hope for the electrons was when the star of the Sun Valley team, Ron Kovac, became injured. While all of the MAHS fans were overjoyed at this turn of fate, Star Girl was crouched on the floor, holding Ron's head. This was seen as an act of treason. The Electrons ended up losing the game and their shot at the state championship, and they blamed Star Girl.

    While everyone else was shunning Star Girl, Leo Borlock, was falling in love with the unorthodox girl. They began to date, and Leo could not be happier. He began to see into the life of this enchanting girl. Star Girl took Leo with her on her adventures. They went to the enchanted place in the desert, made cards for people for various reasons, checked the newspapers for the fillers, watched people at the mall to discover what kind of person they were, dropped change on the ground for others to find, many other magical things. Leo started to think of Star Girl as a saint. Star Girl didn't understand why he thought that way; she was just being nice.

    As happy as Leo was to be with Star Girl, he began to feel the effects of being shunned by his peers. He was asked by his wise friend, Archie, whose attention he wanted the most, Star Girl's or his peers at MAHS. One day Leo asked Star Girl why she couldn't just be normal. The next day, Star Girl disappeared and Susan appeared in her place. Unlike Star Girl, Susan tried her hardest to fit in. She tried to do "normal" things, and she became obsessed with how she looked, especially about what clothes she wore. Even though she did everything she could to fit in, it didn't seem to make a difference. Her peers still didn't seem to like her any better. Leo liked her that way, though, and was no longer embarrassed to be seen in public with her. He loved the knew Star Girl, but the students at MAHS still couldn't forgive her for what happened at the Sun Valley game.

    Star Girl thought that would all change as soon as she won the Arizona state oratorical contest. She knew that she would win it, and when she did, there would be mobs of people lining up to congratulate her on her success. She did win the contest, but there were no mobs. No one seemed to care about her success. The next day she returned back to Star Girl. Leo asked her what made her change, and she said that it was just too difficult to be popular. She would rather just be herself. The relationship between Leo and Star Girl changed at that moment. He was again embarrassed to be seen with her in public. He loved her dearly, but he still couldn't rise above the stares and snickers of those around him. He ended up not even asking her to the Ocotillo Ball. She went by herself and led almost everyone at the dance in the Bunny Hop. They took the line all around the school. Some thought it would never end. When they came back, Hillary Kimble slapped Star Girl on the cheek because she said that Star Girl had ruined everything. Star Girl looked her right in the eye, kissed her on the cheek, and walked away. That was the last anyone ever saw of Star Girl.

    Fifteen years after Star Girl left, Leo still thinks of her. He regrets not having the courage to be with her, but it is all in the past. Star Girl's memory still lives on in the town of Mica. The people of Mica will never be the same.

Recommended Readers: I feel very strongly that every person should read this book! The message of being yourself is a message that every child going into their teenage years should hear. I think that it would be a good read for both male and female writers because although the main character is a girl, it is told from the perspective of a boy. I also think that adults would benefit from reading this book as well.

Possible Problems: I think that some children might have a hard time reading this book because it does challenge nonconformity. Most children have grown up their whole lives trying to just fit in, so they might not really like Star Girl's character. The book definitely does challenge you to think differently than most people are used to.

Reactions: This book just made it onto my list of my top three favorite books. I absolutely loved it! I honestly did not want to put it down. Star Girl's character made me really think about who I am, and whose judgment it is that I really value, mine or others. Reading this book also made me want to be a better person and start remembering people's birthdays and dropping change on the ground every once in a while. This book shows that every person can make a difference. I hope that I will remember the lessons that Star Girl tries to teach as long as I live.