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Holes

Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake for a crime he did not commit. There is no lake, and every day the boys must dig a hole five feet wide and five feet deep. Why is the Warden so interested in what they find?

Length
About 47,000 words
To read it
About 32 days
Stage
Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3

Reading time at 1,500 words a day, the pace we start from until we know your child’s own.

Where it is taught

Why Holes is on the list

  • Year 6, Stretch. A step up in length or difficulty, for a confident reader.
  • Year 7, Core. The books most schools teach in this year. A good place to start.

Reading it here

What your child does with it

  1. 1

    Choose it and set a finish date

    You get a suggested target from the length of the book and your child's reading pace.

  2. 2

    Check in along the way

    A longer book has short check-ins every week or two, so it keeps moving and nothing is forgotten.

  3. 3

    Answer two questions

    When they finish: a review of the book, and a deeper question about how it works.

  4. 4

    Get it marked, and redraft

    Every answer is marked against the rubric for their year, with a reason for every score.