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Written by Louis Sachar - Audio book performed by Kerry Beyer - Unabridged Fiction - 3 CASSETTES - 4.5 hours

Publisher, Listening Library (March 2003)

Ages 10 an up

NOTE: This audio book is in 'standard retail packaging.'

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YALSA Selected List of Audiobooks for Young Adults
ALSC Notable Children's Recording
1999 Boston Globe / Horn Book Award Winner

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

The Horn Book, Inc. says:
With great finesse Sachar tells an exceptionally funny, and heart-rending, shaggy dog story. Stanley Yelnats is sent to a boys' detention facility, where, it turns out, he has a date with destiny that involves his pig-stealing great-great-grandfather, a family curse, the ruthless outlaw Kissing Kate Barlow, some peaches, some onions, a lullaby, and a pair of sneakers. We haven't seen a book with this much plot, so suspensefully and expertly deployed, in too long a time.

School Library Journal says:
(Grades 5-8) Stanley Yelnats IV has been wrongly accused of stealing a famous baseball player's valued sneakers and is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention home where the boys dig holes, five feet deep by five feet across, in the miserable Texas heat. It's just one more piece of bad luck that's befallen Stanley's family for generations as a result of the infamous curse of Madame Zeroni. Overweight Stanley, his hands bloodied from digging, figures that at the end of his sentence, he'll "...either be in great physical condition or else dead." Overcome by the useless work and his own feelings of futility, fellow inmate Zero runs away into the arid, desolate surroundings and Stanley, acting on impulse, embarks on a risky mission to save him. He unwittingly lays Madame Zeroni's curse to rest, finds buried treasure, survives yellow-spotted lizards, and gains wisdom and inner strength from the quirky turns of fate. In the almost mystical progress of their ascent of the rock edifice known as "Big Thumb," they discover their own invaluable worth and unwavering friendship. Each of the boys is painted as a distinct individual through Sachar's deftly chosen words. The author's ability to knit Stanley and Zero's compelling story in and out of a history of intriguing ancestors is captivating. Stanley's wit, integrity, faith, and wistful innocence will charm readers. A multitude of colorful characters coupled with the skillful braiding of ethnic folklore, American legend, and contemporary issues is a brilliant achievement. There is no question, kids will love Holes. --Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY

Kathleen Karr - Children's Literature says:
Because of a curse placed on his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, Stanley Yelnats finds himself at Camp Green Lake, a residence for juvenile offenders. Overweight and unlucky, Stanley tries to do his best to fit in and to excel at the camp's one activity: digging holes. Yes, holes. Holes precisely five feet deep by five feet wide all across the godforsaken desert landscape of a dried-out Texas lake. How holes become Stanley's salvation is the meat of this quirky, brink-of surreal story that believably floats between past lives and present realities. Sachar's earlier Wayside School stories always had a Pinkwaterish edge to them, but in Holes he comes fully, brilliantly into his own voice. This is a can't-put-it-down read.

About the Author: Louis Sachar was born in East Meadow, New York and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and Hastings College of Law. He is married and has one daughter. He writes at his home in Austin, Texas under the watchful eyes of his dogs Lucky and Tippy.

About the Narrator: Kerry Beyer is a writer, actor, and director, having appeared on ABC's Port Charles and starring in the independent film Sanity. Originally from Texas, he now lives in Los Angeles.