Holes (novel)

Holes is a novel written by Louis Sachar. It was published on August 20, 1998 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, with cover art by Vladimir Radunsky. It won the Newbery Medal in 1999.

The novel is about Stanley Yelnats, a 15-year old boy who is sent by mistake to a camp for young criminals. At the camp, boys must dig 5 foot wide and 5 foot deep holes in a dried up lake in the middle of a hot desert. Stanley starts to have suspicions that the camp's warden is looking for something. This story is told alongside two others stories: one about Stanley's great-great-grandfather, and another about the area where the camp is located. These side stories include links to the present including some of the characters ancestors.

In 2003, Disney released a movie also titled Holes which was based on this novel. Holes was directed by Andrew Davis and written by the author of Holes himself, Louis Sachar. In 2006, Sachar also published a companion novel called Small Steps, which is about two of the side characters from Holes. The movie is currently found on Disney+.