Holes (Holes, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

May 01, 2014 Beth Given rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery, read-aloud, battle-of-the-books-2020-21

I read this back before I had kids and really enjoyed the book: the likable characters (even the villains are likable; Mr. Sir is my favorite!), the descriptive but not overbearing writing, and especially the way the plot pieces fit themselves together like a jigsaw puzzle. Very worthy of the Newbery.

A few months ago, I decided it was time to introduce my nine-year-old to this treasure of a book. I checked it out from the library and waited for him to pick it up. But he didn't -- Holes just sat I read this back before I had kids and really enjoyed the book: the likable characters (even the villains are likable; Mr. Sir is my favorite!), the descriptive but not overbearing writing, and especially the way the plot pieces fit themselves together like a jigsaw puzzle. Very worthy of the Newbery.

A few months ago, I decided it was time to introduce my nine-year-old to this treasure of a book. I checked it out from the library and waited for him to pick it up. But he didn't -- Holes just sat on the library shelf for weeks while he reached for graphic novels instead (he's on a Pokemon kick right now). I figured that this was just too good of a book to return to the library unread, so I decided to read it aloud to the kids (9, 6, and 4) at bedtime. I had fallen out of the habit of reading aloud to them since having a fourth child, so this would be a good way to bring back the tradition.

It only took about two chapters for my nine-year-old to realize his mistake in not reading this earlier -- he would beg every night for "one more chapter!" He would have devoured the whole thing in a day or two if he'd only just started the book! I asked him to rate it afterward, and he gave the story five stars. The two younger kids enjoyed it just as much -- though it's always hard to tell how much of their enjoyment is because of the book and how much of it is just that they like being read to. Either way, we all loved reading this book the past month!

---

2020 UPDATE: This book is on next school year's Battle of the Books list, so I read it aloud to my two middle kids (with my oldest and youngest listening in occasionally, too). We read a few chunks to make it through the first twenty chapters ... then we read the rest of the book (all 145 pages) in one morning, because my daughter couldn't bear to stop reading! This book is a lot of fun. I loved seeing how Stanley's character grows and develops; he gets stronger physically digging those holes, and he grows in so many other ways, too. ...more

1 like · Like · see review