Holes is a novel by American author Louis Sachar about a boy called Stanley Yelnats who is wrongfully sent to a juvenile detention camp for a theft that he did not commit.

This comic mystery-adventure book is most suitable for 9-13 year olds, i.e. upper key stage two pupils (years 5 and 6) and lower key stage three pupils (years 7 and 8).

Below are some ideas for writing activities to carry out whilst reading this book.

Write a character profile

Explore the character of Stanley, or any other character, by writing a Holes character profile.

Get pupils to think carefully about various aspects of the chosen person such as their physical appearance; personality; likes and dislikes; and strengths and weaknesses. Ask them to look for supporting evidence from the text.

Character profiles can be written at any point during the reading of the text, but I find that creating one after reading the first few chapters gives children the opportunity to examine the protagonist in detail; this helps comprehension and engagement when reading the rest of the text.

See this Holes Stanley Yelnats Character Profile WAGOLL Text Pack for an example character profile; planning and writing templates; and handy word bank.

Write a setting description

Describe the unique setting of the novel Holes: the American desert. This is a great opportunity for pupils to think about what it must be like to be in Camp Green Lake, and to experience the harsh environment of the hot, dry desert.

Encourge children to use a wide variety of figurative language features such as similes, metaphors and personification to describe the setting.

This Holes Desert Description Model Text Pack contains a WAGOLL text, feature find worksheets, planning sheets and vocabulary bank – eveything needed to write a vivd description.

Write a newspaper report

There are lots of newsworthy events in this story to write about, but none so newsworthy as the crime that Stanley is convicted of. Be a journalist and write a newspaper report about Stanley Yelnats’ court case, adding quotes from witnesses. The ideal time to do this piece of writing is after reading Chaper 6 of Holes.

Newspaper reports are a great opportunity to use tricky grammatical constructs such as the passive voice, as well as relative clauses and modal verbs.

Use this Holes Newspaper Report Example Text Pack for inspiration. It contains a WAGOLL newspaper report; feature find worksheets with answers; quotation punctuation activity with answers; and planning and writing templates.

Write a non-chronological report

Why not write a non-chronological report about the yellow-spotted lizard from Holes? As not much is mentioned about this fictional creature in the novel, this is a great opportunity to research desert-dwelling lizards for this information text.

Pupils will get the opportunity to be creative in their descriptions of the reptile’s appearance, diet, habitat and life cycle.

This Holes Non-Chronological Report Model Text Pack contains a WAGOLL; feature find worksheets with answers; and planning and writing templates.

See resource bundle with all four WAGOLL writing packs