#32 in Middle grade
Holes
- 240
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
- National Book Award
- Newbery Medal
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
About the book
Holes is a 1998 middle grade novel written by Louis Sachar and first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book centers on Stanley Yelnats IV, a young boy who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional boot camp in a desert in Texas, after being wrongfully convicted of theft. The plot explores the history of the area and how the actions of several characters in the past have affected Stanley's life in the present. These interconnecting stories touch on themes such as labor, boyhood and masculinity, friendship, meaning of names, illiteracy, elements of fairy tales, and racism.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 1,574 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 91% of the weight and the score stays at 8.1 — the Middle grade average of 8.0 barely moves it. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.5 | 197 | 13% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 59 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 1.3K | 84% |
Frequently asked
What age is Holes for?
Holes sits on the Middle grade shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 8–12. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 240 pages — shorter than 62% of the ranked books in Middle grade.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Middle grade — with scores between 8.0 and 8.1, closest to this book.
