I had the same problem with this book as with Les Misérables: there’s just too many boys to remember. It’s an awesome journey on the first read, and only becomes more amazing when rereading it. I can’t think of any information that was useless, but when you read it for the first time it seems like just another description. But trust me: literally every single detail makes sense in the end. Each of these stories takes place in a different time and seems to have nothing to do with the main plot at first. There’s Stanley’s storyline, the storyline of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather who stole a pig and got the entire family cursed and the story of Miss Katherine the school teacher and her black boyfriend Sam. There are various storylines throughout the story that only make sense at the very end.

The main reason this book is so popular is the genius of the plot.

That was what some people thought.” At first, it seems as if this is just pointless hard labour, but Stanley soon learns there is something more behind it. Or, as the book puts it: “If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy. At camp, the boys have to dig holes all day long in a hot desert. He gets sent to a camp for boys who did something criminal. Holes is about a teenager named Stanley Yelnats who gets in trouble for supposedly stealing some particularly special sneakers. Holes is pretty well-known, and for good reason: it has one of the best plots I’ve ever read. Sometimes, though, I read a book for young people and think it’s a real shame this book isn’t on the list. There are people out there who would unflinchingly put Animorphs on the list.

If there’s one rule that’s important it’s that only adult books are allowed on the list. In the Netherlands, you have to read a list of books for your languages exam.

Holes book to read