From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 17:07:07 -0500

I gave Holes to my fifth grade nephew for Christmas suggesting that his father read it to him. After they began I asked my nephew what he thought of it and he told me it was "a bit depressing." I immediately realized that he identified strongly with the marginalized Stanley and told him not to worry, that it ended up well. This past weekend he told me he had completed it and still found it "sad." So, for some children there is darkness there.

Something else about Holes. On Child_lit we had a thread last fall as to whether it was a "guy" book. I argued that it was because it was so full of guy imagery. Not that girls would dislike it, but it had a distinctly masculine sensibility to me - as do Hemingway's works for that matter. Some on the list bristled at the idea of it being identified this way. There seemed to be a feeling that such a definition diminished the book somehow. Recently I decided to read it aloud to my class of fourth graders (after having argued last fall on Child_lit that I wouldn't because I didn't think my more literal girl readers would make the necessary effort to follow the different plot lines.) So far all have been intrigued, those literal girls among them, because it is sooo mysterious and because they like Sachar's other books.

Lastly, reading it aloud made me notice some similarities to Maniac Magee which I've read aloud many times. That book also has elements that feel very male to me yet like Holes, appeals to both genders. Both books have so many folk tale elements which make them especially fun to read aloud. Then there is the commonality of both main characters teaching someone to read -Maniac teaches Grayson, Stanley teaches Zero. Both have outrageous living situations - in "Holes" the Wreck Room in "Holes" and the McNab home in "Maniac Magee."

Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org
Received on Tue 16 Feb 1999 04:07:07 PM CST