Holes

[Companion Mode] Open your copy of Holes to the very beginning. Sachar starts by describing Camp Green Lake—but here’s the catch: there is no lake. There is no shade. There is no green. The name is completely misleading.

Pay attention to the tone. Sachar describes deadly rattlesnakes and scorpions, extreme heat, and a dried-up lake bed. He then tells us that boys are sent here as punishment. They have to dig one hole each day: five feet deep, five feet across.

Then we meet Stanley Yelnats. His name is a palindrome (it’s the same forwards and backwards). His family believes they are cursed because of his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather."

Stanley is arrested for stealing a pair of sneakers that fell from the sky. He didn’t steal them, but nobody believes him. The judge gives him a choice: jail or Camp Green Lake. Stanley chooses Camp Green Lake. He’s never been to camp before.