Compare_&_Contrast

Holes Book: Holes by Louis Sachar Movie: Holes Walt Disney After reading the book Holes by Louise Sachar, (1998), I decided to watch the move. I knew that the movie would be different because everyone interprets things differently. But, I was surprised to see a few similarities. A curse that started with Stanley Yelnats no-good-dirty-rotten-pig stealing great-great-grandfather has followed generations of Yelnats. Madame Zeroni placed this curse on the Yelnats because Stanley’s great-great-grandfather did not carry her up the mountain to drink from the water. As Stanley was walking home from school, a pair of tennis shoes fell from the sky and hit him on the head. The shoes were stolen from a homeless shelter. Stanley was caught with the shoes and sentenced to 18 months at Camp Green Lake. At Camp Green Lake the boys dig holes 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep. The boys dig because the warden is looking for something. One day a boy named Zero got angry and ran away. A couple of days later Stanley goes after Zero. With no food or water they start their journey to a mountain. Zero is in a lot of pain so when they make it to the mountain Stanley has to carry Zero. They make it to the top and drink the water. They finally decide to head back to camp. When they get to camp, the boys start to dig and as soon as the boys pull out a treasure chest the warden is standing over them. The next morning Stanley’s lawyer comes to camp to tell Stanley he is being released. Despite what the warden said the chest was Stanley’s because Stanley Yelnats was written on the side. There were no files on Zero, whose real name is Hector Zeroni, so he and Stanley were released and the curse was broken. A Yelnats had carried a Zeroni up the mountain to drink the water. Zero and Stanley became millionaires. The Attorney General closed Camp Green Lake and the warden sold the land. It will become a Girl Scout camp (Sachar, 1998). The book and the movie were similar in a lot of ways. The movie did a very good job sticking to the book. The setting was the same for both the book and the movie. Stanley was the protagonist. I learned about his traits as well as his strengths and weaknesses (Anderson, 2006). He was a well developed character in the book and the movie; he was a round character (Anderson, 2006). The rest of the boys I would consider Flat characters. I never noticed a change in personality (Anderson, 2006). The theme, benefits of friendship, also stayed the same. Stanley and Zero becoming friends led to their survival and wealth. When Stanley became friends with Zero he was happier than ever. The book and the movie also offer differences. The point of view was different. In the book the point of view is an omniscient point of view where as the movie is in a first person point of view (Anderson, 2006). The movie left out some of the plot that I thought was important. The movie does not show Stanley being bullied. In the book Stanley gets released because he was getting his notebook out of the toilet. I also pictured the warden to be a freckled redhead and Stanley to be fat. In the book Stanley was seen as an outsider because he is overweight. In the movie he is tall and lanky. Although there were differences the movie did a good job sticking to the book (Davis, 2003). I really did enjoy the book and the movie. I could not put the book down. I would highly recommend this to anyone for a wonderful story. I preferred the book over the movie. The book offered more detail and insight on the plot. The book did deliver the humor better, but I would rather have the details. I would recommend this book for 9-13 year olds or fourth graders. This book could be used to show bullying and teasing as well as homelessness. It could also be a geography lesson on Texas and desert life. With science it would be great to learn about different animals that live in the desert. The book and the movie could be used to learn how to compare and contrast and to use story mapping. A lot of wonderful activities could be used for this book and I recommend using Holes in the classroom. References Anderson, Nancy A. (2006). Elementary Children's Literature. Pearson Education, Inc. Davis, Andre (Director), and Medavoy, Mike, Davis, Andrew, Tucker-Davies, Teresa and Blank Lowell D. (Producers). (2003) Holes [Motion Picture]. Walt Disney: Phonex Pictures. Walden Media. Sachar, Louis (1998). Holes. Broadway, New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.