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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSStanley Yelnats IV is an unlucky, overweight middle schooler who has never been to camp, never had close friends, and has spent his whole life blaming misfortune on a family curse traced to a pig-stealing great-great-grandfather. When a pair of famous sneakers falls from the sky and lands on his head, Stanley is arrested for stealing them and given a choice by the judge: jail or Camp Green Lake. He chooses the camp, expecting something like summer fun, but Camp Green Lake turns out to be a juvenile correctional facility in a scorching Texas wasteland where the only activity is digging one five-foot hole per day in the dried-up lake bed. The counselors say it builds character, but Stanley quickly suspects the Warden has a different reason for all that digging.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Holes
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Holes. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a boy carry a piglet up a mountain every day to a stream that runs uphill?
✓ Answer
Holes by Louis Sachar
Madame Zeroni gives Elya a runt piglet and tells him to carry it up the mountain each day to drink from a stream that flows uphill, while singing it a special song. As the pig grows heavier, Elya grows stronger.
- First half
In what book does a woman scratch a man's face with venomous fingernails and make him writhe on the floor?
✓ Answer
Holes by Louis Sachar
After Mr. Sir insists that Stanley is covering for another boy who stole his sunflower seeds, the Warden strikes him across the face with her wet venom coated nails. He collapses on the floor screaming in pain. The venom leaves jagged purple scars on his cheek that last for days.
- First half
In what book does a rich man nicknamed for his smelly feet lead a mob against a schoolhouse?
✓ Answer
Holes by Louis Sachar
Charles Walker, called Trout because his feet smell like dead fish, is furious when the schoolteacher kisses Sam instead of accepting his own attentions. He leads the townspeople in burning down the schoolhouse and hunting Sam down.
- Second half
In what book does a counselor say, "You might as well try to teach this shovel to read!"?
✓ Answer
Holes by Louis Sachar
Mr. Pendanski mocks Zero in front of the Warden moments before Zero snaps and strikes him with the shovel.
- Second half
In what book does a boy find an upside-down boat half buried in a dry lake bed?
✓ Answer
Holes by Louis Sachar
Stanley stumbles on the wreck of the Mary Lou in the middle of nothing, with a small tunnel dug underneath it.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy wait more than a month alone in a playground tunnel for his mother?
✓ Answer
Holes by Louis Sachar
Zero tells Stanley about waiting for his mother at Laney Park, sleeping in the tunnel between the slide and the swinging bridge after she never returned.
