I saw the book "Holes" at my son's school's book fair. I remember reading the book as a kid and enjoying it. I didn't remember much about it, but knew it was a fairly light heated book. I have been reading the Wayside books by the same author to him at bedtime. He loved those books so I thought Holes would be a great next book. I've been reading a couple of chapters to him every night and he has loved it so far. I just finished reading the chapter to my son where Zero tells Stanley how his mother abandoned him. As an adult there was a lot of the story I picked up by reading between the lines. Like how Zero's mother was possibly a prostitute and likely a drug addict. Stuff that a kid would never pick up. Zero's story made me very sad and it was difficult to continue reading due to my voice cracking and fighting back tears. When I got to the part where Zero forgot his stuffed animal when he ran away from the park my son started crying. He was saying that Zero lost everything. He was so sad and seeing my son be sad and cry made me even more sad and I started to cry. We were just a son and a father crying over a fictional story for a good moment. It took awhile for us to continue and finish the story. So many modern stories and media targeted at children don't often explore "negative" emotions. It was a nice, although, different bonding moment.
by slicedbread1991
44 Comments
What a beautiful moment for you! It’s always amazed me that Louis Sachar was able to tell such a complex and moving story at a children’s reading level.
You did a great thing as a father by crying. It is a very hard book to read when older but you persisted. My favorite memory is my dad letting me cry about my cat that had passed on. Stay strong and keep it up.
You should definitely watch the movie, too. Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay, so it doesn’t deviate too heavily from the book and is really good
A true classic. Can’t wait to read to my son when he is old enough. And will definitely follow up with watching the movie. Louis Sachar is a timeless children’s author. Glad you had such a special moment.
It’s great to see this post, especially in the midst of the plague of book cancellations in schools. Reading good fiction is a key to understanding the world, with its joys and sorrows, beauty and ugliness. You’re a wonderful dad, I bet your child will remember this experience!
I just checked this book out of the library (on-line via the Libby app). I’m glad you shared the experience of bringing it to your son – because it was actually pretty moving to read that. The power of books!
Great book! I read it to all four of my children!
My dad read Holes to me as a bed time story when I was growing up. I remember it being hard to stop after just one chapter each night because it’s such an engaging book, you always want to know what comes next.
Only tangentially related, I had completely forgotten that the Wayside School books existed. I absolutely loved them as a kid! Even the spinoff books that were just math & logic puzzles
It’s an amazing book. I read it long after my kids were too old for it and I didn’t have grands yet. Still one of my favorites.
Read it to my son last fall. I was astounded at how good it is. The way every last detail comes together is something.
Wayside is the same author??
“It’s the onions…”
This is my dream.
My daughter is 3, my son is nearing 2. I have similar experiences with my father and now I am hoping to instill such a strong desire for reading and connection through reading with my children. Reading was a HUGE bonding point with my dad and I growing up and as adults.
Narratives can transcend time and emotion in a way that other medium simply cannot.
I read that book probably 15 times as a kid. I loved that book.
I also cried reading it. But I still read it over and over again.
My 4th grade teacher read “Where the Red Fern Grows” to us and I vividly remember her crying. It really struck me that it’s okay to cry when you’re sad, even as a grown up.
I read it as a preteen and teen a few times and I also really liked it. It is a beautiful example of magical realism for children and it does allow for complex emotion and conflicts to be prossesed.
Always was a favoutite for me.
Man… You just made me cry…
My kids and I absolutely sobbed reading Holes together.
This is possibly my favorite book ever. It is always hard to narrow down just one favorite, but it really might be this one.
I read ‘holes’ in my last year of Undergrad. I felt so lost (still do) but that book was so beautiful it really helped me with a lot of my emotions. I know I would have loved it as a kid, but of well. I loved the Kissing Kate Barlowe arc- it was so poignant and sad.
You brought back some memories for me of buying Sideways Stories from Wayside School at the Scholastic Book Fair at school!
An amazing book, that one!
I wish I could have a son…
There’s also a sequel called “Small Steps” that follows Armpit as he reintegrates into society. I’m not sure how old your son is, but I remember it being a little more mature than “Holes” with some adult humor and romance, but I read it when I was about 8 and I think it had the same depth and complexity that was still accessible for children as the original.
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How old is your son? Wondering when to start reading it to my daughter.
Every thing he ever wrote is something I wish I could read for the first time again. That’s why having a kid is so special. You get to relive that experience through them.
Was introduced to the genius this book shamefully late in life. The movie is equally good 🙂
It’s good to cry and practice empathy with children. That’s one great reason to read books that are hard (We’re reading the One and Only Ivan 😭)
Now read Wayside School to laugh to off. And laugh about a colony of rats that disguise themselves as humans to go to school and a teacher who turns people into apples.
I always recommend this book to writers as a clinic on backwards writing. Every thread, including Zero’s mother, is tied up so neatly by the end. So she was wealthy and cared for and they were together before they were ever torn apart by poverty and desperation.
Holes is up there with Maniac Magee, Hatchet, Bridge to Terabithia, then when you get a bit older Maze Runner, Divergent, Hunger Games—as YA books which are superb.
I read The Giver, embarrassingly, for the first time after many many young people recommended it to me. I found it far inferior to all the books above.
And there is a bit of age differential here Holes and Hatchet are really phenomenal as one of the first chapter books for late Elementary learners.
[“Did you know the hole’s only natural enemy is the pile?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DERjNPnr31Q)
Strongly recommend Dear Mr Henshaw if you want to continue the tradition of bawling with your son. Also Socks. (Both by Beverly Cleary and very much not Ramona style books.)
You are a wonderful father
Wow I read Holes so many times as a kid. I absolutely loved it and when I saw a movie was being made it bummed me out because I loved the story and book so much that even the thought of the movie not being true or missing things was upsetting haha glad I was wrong! Thanks for the flash of memories!! Side note oooooh my god you also gave me nostalgia bomb with Wayside!!! Sideways stories!!! I’m 33 and haven’t thought of those books in like over 20 years! Holy shit I loved those books to. I wish I had a kid to read those too they were so good. I’m gonna go searching for what else I read and loved. Hopefully your kid enjoys those too! Are they popular now days? Captain underpants of course was great too
I got this book signed in elementary school and I still remember the interaction of asking Louis Sachar to sign the slipcover, not the inside. He was like, are you sure? And my teacher tried to persuade me that the inside was better.
Nope. I wanted the cover with the picture signed!
It sounds like you both are very grateful for what you have and that’s why you feel sympathy for Zero. That’s very sweet.
“If only, if only…”
the poem will always be stuck in my head, “If only if only”
My daughter is now 6 but when she was 5 the same thing happened to us with the book “Dungeon Academy no humans allowed” is a fun book about a girl that dresses as a minotaur and lives with her two adoptive mothers (two minotaurs) in a dungeon academy, a place where monsters learn how to be monsters.
Near the end she mets her real mother and understand that she was adbandoned for reasons and she has to choose between her real mother or her friends and my voice was cracking too and suddenly I see my little angel sniffing and she was crying too.
It felt very good because it shows that she was listening and understanding everything and she is a little person with normal feelings.
We loved that book, on the second now.
Speaking of the Wayside books, have you tried their Sideways math?
DOGS+CATS=APEX
You are a good Dad and a great example of fatherhood. I know he will cherish that memory. It’s ok to be human and have emotions. Far more people need to do so.
This is adorable I will go to sleep happy tonight 😭