Monday, November 24, 2008

Review #4: Holes


Dad:  For our bedtime story, we recently spent a few nights reading "Holes" by Louis Sachar...
Gracie (age 8):  It's about digging holes.
Isaac (age 10):  It was exciting.  There were lots of parts where, at first you don't understand what's happening, but later in the book it tells you more about it.
Gracie:  Like Stanley's dirty rotten, pig stealing, great-great-grandfather!
Dad:  So that's an example where, at first you don't understand who he was...
Isaac:  Yeah - but now we know why they called him that.
Gracie:  Dirty rotten, pig stealing, great-great-grandfather!
Dad:  I like how there were a whole bunch of things that seemed separate from each other, but as the book goes on...
Isaac: ...all the stories start combining into one.
Dad:  So what happens?
Isaac:  Zero ran away from the camp because he was mad, and Stanley chased after him...
Gracie:  Camp Green Lake -- it's a terrible camp.  You would rather go to jail than that camp.
Isaac:  He was gone for eight or nine days, and there was no water or anything.  But he brought his shovel with him, and he dug a hole under a boat that said "Mary Lou," and they found some old spiced peaches...
Gracie:  Sam the Onion Man had a donkey named Mary Lou.  But Zero and Stanley thought the boat was named after a person, not a donkey.  They said, "Man, she must have been important if someone named a boat after her.  I bet she looked great in a bathing suit next to her boyfriend."  That was SO FUNNY!  I'm imagining Mary Lou in a bathing suit right now, and it is HILARIOUS!  Do you hear me people?  HILARIOUS!
Isaac:  I can tell you why the kids dig holes...
Gracie:  No!  We don't want to spoil the mystery for the listeners...
Isaac:  WHAT???
Gracie:  Shame on you!
Isaac:  People are not just going to go read the book after they read this!
Dad:  Well, they might-- that's why we're doing this!  A book review is supposed to make it exciting for people so they'll want to go out and read it themselves...
Gracie:  Yah!
Dad:  So, Lily, what did you think was exciting?
Lily (age 5):  The lizards in the book had yellow spots and glowing red eyes and very sharp black teeth and a loooong white tongue.  They like to live in holes.  And no matter what, if the lizards bite you... you will have to die.
Dad:  Oh no!
Lily:  But they don't bite you if you have onion blood, because they do not eat onion blood.
Isaac:  The ending was one of the best parts.
Dad:  Gracie was so excited, she couldn't sit still!
Isaac:  They were surrounded by yellow spotted lizards in a hole...  It made me feel worried...
Gracie:  I was freaked out.  And when I'm freaked out, I jump around and get scared.
Lily:  I remember when it was happening, I didn't move at all.  I thought there was a lizard... crawling... up... my... face...
Dad:  Any last comments?
Isaac:  It's a good book.  You really should read it.  I wish I could tell you more about it... but I can't.  They won't let me.

spitting into the hole, by Lily

Mary Lou in a bathing suit, by Gracie

yellow spotted lizard, by Isaac


Author: Louis Sachar
Published, 1998: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Like it? Find it

10 comments:

Sherry Gann said...

...sounds very suspenseful! We may have to find this for our next chapter book read-aloud. Thanks. :)

Anonymous said...

I got an error while leaving a comment, so sorry if you see it twice!

This is one of my favorite books. I like the interpretation of Mary Lou in a bathing suit. That's a perfect hole and one scary lizard, too. Very cool, Z-Kids.

ElizT said...

Dead exciting!

Andrea -- Just One More Book!! Podcast said...

Oooooh!! So many books, so little time. This one's been sitting in our ToRead pile for far too long. Thanks for bumping it up!

Z-Kids said...

Thanks for commenting everyone! If you read this book I hope you really like it!
- Isaac

Kim Baise said...

This is my favorite new kidlit blog! Sooo cool and fun. Teacherninja just wrote a post about how awesome your blog is too.
Happy Thanksgiving

Anonymous said...

I love this book, too. If you're not opposed to cinematic interpretations, you should check out the movie. It's pretty good.

Carrie said...

NICE spotted yellow lizard, Isaac!

Can't wait to see what you all review next!

Emily said...

This was so cute. Please! More reviews! You are blessed to have such wonderful kids in your life (:

Anonymous said...

Once again this is a fabulous review. I love that Isaac wanted to tell more, but the rest of you wouldn't let him. Holes was a favorite of several of the students at my middle school. It is a fun movie too.