Holes

1. Holes Louis Sachar

2. Story Elements Title:Holes Author: Louis Sachar Type of Work: Novel Author’s Purpose: Entertain Genre: Fiction-Mystery; folk tale; adventure Narrator: 3rd Omniscient Protagonist: Stanley Yelnats

3. Setting • setting (time) · Most of the story takes place at the end of the 20th century but there are flashbacks to the late 19th century and to the mid 19th century. • setting (place) · Most of the story takes place on Green Lake, in Texas. This place is described as it was in the late 19th and late 20th centuries. There are also brief flashbacks to scenes in Latvia in the mid to late 19th century.

4. Vocabulary Chapter 1-25 • perseverance • desolate • preposterous • intensity • engraved • paranoid • evict • callused • refuge • concoctions

5. perseverance • perseverance-steady persistence, insistence, determination, dedication, commitment, endurance • Page 8 -       Stanley's father was an inventor. To be a successful inventor you need three things:  intelligence, perseverance, and just a little bit of luck.     Stanley's father was smart and had a lot of perseverance. Once he started a project he would work on it for years, often going days without sleep. he just never had any luck.

6. desolate • desolate - Devoid of inhabitants; deserted, abandoned, bare, empty, godforsaken, isolated, lonely, solitary, uninhabited, unoccupied, unused, vacant, wild • Page 11 -     The land was barren and desolate. He could see a few rundown buildings and some tents.

7. preposterous • preposterous - so devoid of wisdom or good sense as to be laughable, absurd, crazy, excessive, extreme, far out, foolish, harebrained, insane, irrational, laughable, loony, ludicrous,  nonsensical, outrageous, ridiculous, senseless, silly, stupid, unreasonable, unthinkable, wacky • Page 34   -            "Why not let Myra decide?" suggested Elya.      "That's preposterous!" exclaimed Igor, expelling saliva as he spoke.      "Myra is just an empty-headed girl," said her father. "How can she possibly decide, when I, her father, can't?"

8. intensity • intensity - exceptionally great concentration, power, or force, acuteness, anxiety, deepness, depth, earnestness, emotion, emphasis, intenseness, keenness, magnitude, might • Page 47-      Zero stared at him for a moment, with the same intensity with which he had been staring at the letter.

9. engraved • engraved - carved, cut out, or etched into a material, blocked out, depicted, etched, marked out, sketched • Page 62   -       "It looks like an old shotgun shell," said Squid.      "Yeah, that's probably what it is," said Stanley. He decided not to mention the engraved design. Maybe nobody would notice it. He doubted X-Ray could see it.

10. paranoid • paranoid - exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others, unglued, unhinged, unsettled, schizophrenic • Page 71 -      "She watches us all the time," said Zigzag. "She's got hidden cameras all over the place. In the tents, the Wreck Room, the shower.“      "The shower?" asked Stanley. He wondered if Zigzag was just being paranoid.

11. evict • evict - To put out (a tenant, for example) by legal process; expel, throw out,  remove, dislodge, put out, eject • Page 75 -  The landlord is threatening to evict us because of the odor.

12. callused • callused -To form or develop such hardened tissue, coarse, rough • Page 80 -  His muscles had strengthened, and his hands were tough and callused.

13. refuge • refuge - A place providing protection or shelter, retreat, sanctuary, security, resting place • Page  93 - When he was asked how he lived so long, he said he "found refuge on God's thumb."

14. concoctions • concoctions - the act of creating something by mixing raw materials, mixture, preparation, compound • Page  108 -  They would get regular medicine from Doc Hawthorn and onion concoctions from Sam. After they got over their illness, no one could be sure, not even Doc Hawthorn, which of the two treatments had done the trick.

15. Characters introduced in Chapter 5 Adults at Camp Green Lake • Mr. Sirthe: guard -  wears a cowboy hat and eats sunflower seeds • Mr. Pedanskithe: counselor - almost bald, beard, sunburned nose, nicknamed Mom • Warden:

16. Characters introduced in Chapter 5 Campers from Tent D • Lewis: Barf Bag, the boy who slept in the bed before Stanley • Rex: X-Ray, black, wears glasses •  Alan: Squid, white •  José: Magnet, Hispanic •  Theodore: Armpit, black •  Ricky: Zigzag, white •  Zero: Zero,black

17. Vocabulary Ch 26-50 1. drenched 2. delirious 3. deftly 4. ventilation 5. protruding 6. contritely 7. inexplicable 8. pronounced 9. authenticated 10. incarcerated

18. drenched • drenched -wet through and through; soaked, saturated, soaked to the skin, dripping wet, sopping wet, sodden • Page  127  -  The air became unbearably humid. Stanley was drenched in sweat. Beads of moisture ran down the handle of his shovel. It was almost as if the temperature had gotten so hot that the air itself was sweating.

19. delirious • delirious -having a delirium; wandering in mind, light-headed, insane, raving, wild, hallucinating, confused • Page 128 - No one ever knew what he meant by that. He was delirious when he said it.

20. deftly • deftly - Quickly and skillfully, adroitly, precisely, nimbly, dexterously, precisely • Page  146 -  He popped some sunflower seeds in his mouth, deftly chewed them, and spat out the shells.

21. ventilation • ventilation - To admit fresh air into (a mine, for example) to replace stale or noxious air, freshening • Page 156 - There were enough cracks and holes in the bottom of the boat, now the roof, to provide light and ventilation.

22. protruding • protruding - jutting out, projecting, extending beyond, overhanging • Page  165 - Stanley cupped his hands together, and Zero stepped on his interwoven fingers. He was able to lift Zero high enough for him to grab the protruding slab of rock.

23. contritely • contritely - Feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses; penitently, remorsefully, regretfully, apologetically, ashamedly • Page 179 - "It made my husband and me sick as well," said Mrs. Tennyson, "but it nearly killed Becca, what with her being so young. Sam saved her life."      "It wasn't me," said Sam. "It was the onions."    "I'm glad Becca's all right," Hattie said contritely.

24. inexplicable • inexplicable - Not explicable; not explainable; incapable of being explained, interpreted, or accounted for; as, an inexplicable mystery, incomprehensible, unfathomable, strange, baffling, puzzling, perplexing, curious • Page 190  -  Instead he tried to recapture the feelings he'd had the night before - the inexplicable feeling of happiness, the sense of destiny. But those feelings didn't return

25. pronounced • pronounced - Strongly marked; distinct, definite, obvious, well-defined, evident, prominent • Page 200 - As the dirt chipped and flaked away, the hard object became more pronounced.

26. authenticated • authenticated - To establish the authenticity of; prove genuine, authentic, real, valid, legitimate, legal • Page 215 -     "She didn't have proper authorization," and the Warden.   "I had a court order!" "It was not authenticated," the Warden said. "Authenticated? It was signed by the judge who sentenced him." "I needed authentication from the Attorney General," said the Warden. "How do I know it Legitimate? The boys in my custody have proven themselves dangerous to society. . . . . "

27. incarcerated • incarcerated - put into jail, locked up, confined, caged • Page 222 -  The Attorney General stared at her. "He was obviously incarcerated for a reason."