Holes

Stanley Yelnats, IV, A.K.A Caveman, was a regular lower class, overweight child who lived with his parents and his grandfather. One day, one of the fastest baseball players in history, Clyde Livingston's, cleats fell from out of nowhere and Stanley was accused of stealing the famous shoes that were to be sold at a charity auction. He was then sentenced to Camp Green Lake where you dig holes to "build character". The warden was actually looking for the lost treasures of Kissing Kate Barlow and was using the juvenile prisoners to dig for her. The holes had to be as wide as the shovel long and had to be as deep as the shovel long, which is usually 5 feet.

Stanley's dad and grandpa believe they have so much bad luck because of a curse his ancestor, Elya Yelnats, and all of his family were given by one of Caveman's friend's ancestors. This friend was Hector "Zero" Zeroni. Elya came to a fortune teller Madame Zeroni for advice on how to get Myra Menke to marry him. She says to steal a baby pig, carry it up the mountain, sing it a lullaby, and raise it until it's the biggest in the village because the biggest pig's owner gets to marry her. Madame Zeroni is against the marriage, but says he has to carry Madame up the mountain, sing to her like the pig, after the pig is big enough to win Myra or he and all of his grandchildren will be cursed. He loses interest in Myra, forgets about Madame Zeroni, and goes to America. Since he forgot he received the curse.

When Stanley is digging one day he finds a lipstick container with the initials KB inside a heart on it from the outlaw Kissing Kate Barlow. When she killed someone she would kiss them on the cheek and leave a lipstick mark. She used to be nice and happy school teacher but then she fell in love with an African American named Sam and the town killed him for kissing her.

He and she would trade her peaches, for his sweet onions. The onions were grown on top of God's Thumb in the middle of Green Lake.

The Warden orders that after the find of the lipstick everyone is to dig faster. Zero gets tired of it and runs away from camp into the desert. Then Stanley drives Mr. Sir's truck into a hole and then runs into the desert to search for Zero. He finds him in the same boat that Sam was shot in a long time ago with some of Kate's peaches and they share them and zero nicknamed them, "Sploosh". Then Caveman tells Zero about Gods Thumb and how his great grandpa got robbed by Kate. He was stranded in the middle of the desert so he climbed it. When he reached the top there was onions and water, he barely survived. They go climb Gods Thumb and Caveman carries Zero part of the way up the mountain and sings the lullaby lifting the curse that was set by their ancestors. When they reach the top they find a lot of onions and water. Then Zero confesses that he is the one that stole the