HOLES is one of those instant classics that adults, as well as children, will thoroughly enjoy. Sachar has created something quite different from JK Rowling or Philip Pullman, but no less enchanting INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY Stanley Yelnats family has a history of bad luck going back generations, so he is not too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre. As punishment, the boys must dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, each day in the hard earth of the dried-up lake bed. The warden claims this is character building - but it doesnt take long for Stanley to realise that what he must uncover is the truth. A wonderfully inventive, compelling novel HOLES is a modern masterpiece.