Chapter 12

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapter 12

Choose one of these:

a) Comic Life!

Before and after

Sometimes what one person says can change the mood of one person or a whole group.

On page 57, Stanley says something that makes Zero smile and the other boys laugh. Then Mr. Pedanski says something that changes Zero's feelings.

Create a comic strip of when Stanley makes his comment, and put Stanley's words in a speech bubble next to him as you'd see it in a comic strip.

Make another comic of the group when Mr. Pedanski says what he says, and Zero glares at him. Include details from the book.

OR

b) Quote Analysis

Complete a quote analysis for each of these quotes from page 58:

Quote: 

Characters: 

Paraphrase: 

What does it tell you?

"Even you, Zero. You're not completely worthless."

"I like to dig holes."

Chapter 11

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapter 11

Quote Analysis

You can learn a lot from a quote by explaining it in four parts, called a "quote analysis:"

1. Write the quote and the page it comes from. Put it in quotation marks.
2. Explain who said those words, and to whom they were talking.
3. Paraphrase the quote (put in your own words).
4. Explain what this quote tells you about this character or the plot of the story.
   What kind of person would say these things? Why would they say it? What would they have to know, or be thinking about, to say it?

Example:

Quote: “If it makes you feel better to call me Mom, Theodore, go ahead and call me Mom.”

Characters: Mr. Pendanski says this to one of the boys.

Paraphrase: If you want to call me Mom, it's okay with me.

What does it tell you? Mr. Pendanski wants them to feel comfortable with him. He doesn't want to scare them.

Your Turn!

Analyze this quote from page 53: 

"If anybody gets a day off, it should be me. That's only fair, right?"

Quote: 

Characters: 

Paraphrase: 

What does it tell you?

Chapter 8, 9 and 10

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapters 8, 9, and 10

Chapter 8: Draw it!

This chapter describes the nature and needs of the yellow-spotted lizards. Draw some of these lizards in their natural surroundings. Include and label the following:

1. the lizards, with their specific characteristics (e.g. appearance, colour, size
2. where they live (and how many may be there)
3. shade
4. things these lizards eat
5. a predatory bird (i.e., a bird that eats other animals)

Chapters 9 & 10

Vocabulary:

For each word, read the definition and examples, discuss it, and then:

1. Write the word

2. Write what it means

3. Draw a picture to go with it

4. Answer the question about it.

word	meaning and example	what to draw	question to answer
evaporate	to change into an invisible vapor and goout into the air (what water does) to disappear, especially quickly and completely. For example, sadness can evaporate when you hear good news or see someone special.	1. a lake with water evaporating 2. Someone after sadness has evaporated.	What (at least one thing) would be left in the ocean if all the water evaporated?
intensity	the strength or quantity of something. For example, The intensity of the wind knocked down the fence.	A high-intensity light orsomeone staring with much intensity	How can you change the intensity of your voice?

Inferences:

On page 44, we are introduced to a character named "Caveman." 

1. Who does Stanley infer that the Caveman is? 

2. Why does he infer this? 

On page 47, Stanley makes a different inference about who the Caveman is. 

1. Who is Caveman? 

2. Why does he infer this? 

When Stanley shows Mr. Sir the fossil, he immediately tells that the Warden will not be interested in it.

1. Why do you think Stanley thought she might be interested in it? 

2. What is a question Stanley is probably asking himself?

UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT

Conflict is a struggle; a fight, for or against something.

In literature, conflict is the part of the story that makes you want to know what's going to happen -- who or what is going to win that struggle?

Four common kinds of conflict are:

1. Conflict with another character

example: being in a race or argument with someone

2. Conflict with nature, or natural disasters

example: trying to climb Mount Everest, or survive a tornado or disease

3. Conflict with self - feelings of fear, anger, or self-doubt

example: having to speak in front of people, but being afraid to

4. Conflict with society or a social group - struggling with written or unwritten rules, laws or customs

example: sticking up for someone nobody else likes, or being their friend.

Activities:

Draw four boxes, like the one below and in them, draw or describe one example of each kind of conflict. 

Type of Conflict: _________________

Stanley has a close brush with a conflict with a "Lump" in this chapter. 

1. Which of the four kinds of conflict would it be? 

2. How do you know? 

Chapter 6 and 7

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapters 6 and 7

Flashbacks

Many books tell a story by starting at the beginning, telling you what happened, and ending at the end.

Holes does not do this. We find out why Stanley is at Camp Green Lake after he gets there, and little by little we find out more about what happened.

Holes also has something called flashbacks. In the middle of the story, FLASH! we are zapped back in time and we find out about things that happened a long time ago that are important to Stanley, even though he doesn't know it. We don't really know how they will be important -- but we can make inferences about them.

Whenever there are extra blank lines on the page, ask yourself "why??" Usually the setting is changing to a different time or place, or a lot of time passes by. Sometimes the pause is because something very important has happened or been said.

In chapter 7, what is the first sentence of the "flashback to his grandfather's time?

What is the setting (time and place)?

Find the country Latvia on the maps below; it is abbreviated as "Lat." in the second map because it is small, and close to some other countries. 

1. Find a map of the world. Where is Latvia on it?

2. Here is a new "character" -- an animal. Why is a pig important to this flashback story?

Theme: Perseverance

Madame Zeroni gives Elya advice about the girl he loves. She tells him to do something.

1. Why is Elya going to need perseverance to do as Madame Zeroni asks?

Chapter 4 and 5

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapters 4 and 5

Understanding Quotes ("Quote Analysis")

An author can describe emportant events in a story by telling you about them: He checked Stanley's backpack and allowed him to keep it. Then he led Stanley outside into the blazing heat (p.14).

Sometimes what a character says (and how he says it) is just as important as what happens. It can tell us what the person talking is like, and what has happened in the past or will happen in the future.

You can learn a lot from a quote by explaining it in four parts, called a "quote analysis:"

1. Write the quote and the page it comes from. Put it in quotation marks.
2. Explain who said those words, and to whom they were talking.
3. Paraphrase the quote.
   That means put it in different words that mean the same thing. Don't use quotation marks because quotation marks mean you are writing exactly the words that were said.
4. Explain what this quote tells you about this character or the plot of the story. What kind of person would say these things? Why would they say it? What would they have to know, or be thinking about, to say it?

Example:

Quote: “If it makes you feel better to call me Mom, Theodore, go ahead and call me Mom.”

Characters: Mr. Pendanski says this to one of the boys.

Paraphrase: If you want to call me Mom, it's okay with me.

What does it tell you? Mr. Pendanski wants them to feel comfortable with him. He doesn't want to scare them.

Your Turn!

Mr. Sir is a different kind of person than Mr. Pendanski. Analyze this quote from him: "Whenever you speak to me, you must call me by my name. Is that clear?" (p. 13)

Write the quote:
Who does he say it to, and when and where?
Paraphrase the quote:
What does it say about Mr. Sir?

Tall Tales:

In some ways, the story _Holes_ is like a tall tale. In "tall tales," things are extreme. Good is very, very good and bad is very, very bad. Things don't change -- a rule is a rule.

1. What is "the one rule" at Camp Green Lake?

2. Who is probably a very, very bad character?

Chapter 2 and 3

Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

Chapters Two and Three

THEMES

A theme is "a subject or topic of discourse or artistic representation" (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, tenth ed.); in other words, a theme is a big idea worth thinking and talking about.

In Holes, one theme is something called perseverance. Perseverance means continuing to try, even though what you're trying is hard, things get in the way, or it's discouraging, or all three.

It takes perseverance to run a marathon -- not just the day you run in it, but all those days before that when you are running to get ready. Lots of people say they're going to run in a marathon but never end up even at the starting line.

Thomas Edison is famous for his perseverance. He had to try thousands of different things before he found one that worked. One of his most famous quotes is

"Genius" is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework."

Notice that he puts "genius" in quotes, because it's what you're calling someone (whether really a genius or not).

Questions:

1. For the picture below, describe how the person needed to have perseverance to do what he or she is doing.

2. How do you know Stanley's father has perseverance in chapters 2 and 3?