Stanley learns his vision at the lake was totally different when he finally arrived there. He found there is no lake, except it’s just a wide abandoned desert with bunch of holes everywhere. Mr. Sir, who’s a sunflower seeds addicted, gave Stanley an orange outfit just like the rest of the other boys are having. Stanley learns the life at the camp isn’t as simple as he thought it would be. In every early morning, all of the boys through out the whole camp would have to start digging holes that is must be 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide in the hot desert with only one canteen fills with water until the late evening. If any boy found anything interesting, he’s then must reporting it to Mr. Sir.
Stanley makes a lot of new friends. Yet he’s only getting closer to one boy whose name is Zero. Zero is a very quiet person. He doesn’t talk much. He couldn’t read also. Therefore, Stanley has made an agreement with Zero in which he would teach Zero how to read, and Zero would dig holes for Stanley. Zero helps Stanley with the digging and whenever they are having free time Stanley would go on and teach Zero to read. The friendship between Stanley and Zero grows stronger by each day.
Through digging holes, soon Stanley realizes that the warden is looking for something. They hustled the boys to stay digging holes later than usual. The warden soon has no more patience for what she is looking. Soon they make the boys to dig three holes that connected like a big crater in the ground. Mr. Sir doesn’t like Zero and Stanley because he is mistakenly assuming that they are the one who had stealing his sunflower seeds. Mr. Sir wouldn’t let any of the revenging opportunity slides. Mr. Sir makes harsh comments about Zero and his brainless head. Zero got his emotionally hurts and runs off into the desert. Mr. Sir soon deleted Zero’s files like he was never at the camp before. Stanley was furious and mad at everyone for being so cold to Zero. When Mr. Sir came to refill their canteens Stanley sneaked into his truck and drove it into the desert to search for his friend Zero. Stanley soon discovered a hole where Zero has stayed, and he stays there with Zero with some jars of fruits and some sweet onions. They soon decided to walk their way back home, yet they didn’t know that their way is going back to the camp. Soon they got tired; therefore they dug another hole to rest. Fortunately, they found an interesting suitcase from the hole. Stanley tries to pull it out yet it’s guarded by a poisonous yellow spotted lizard; therefore, Stanley couldn’t do anything. Unluckily, Mr.Pendanski and Mr. Sir spotted them. They tried to get the suitcase but they were unable to. Soon the Attorney General of Texas with Stanley’s lawyer came and rescued Stanley out of the hole. The warden tried to take away the suitcase but Zero claimed no since it has Stanley’s name on the side of it. When they got back to the camp, Stanley’s lawyer got Stanley released from the punishment. Stanley doesn’t want to leave without his best friend, Zero, as a result the Attorney General asked for Zero’s papers, and since the warden got rid of the papers already, Zero is a free man also. They said bye to all of their friends at the camp and left the miracle behinds.
I loved this book. The reason is because it’s a unique and enjoyable story to read. I think the author, Louis Sachar, has done an amazing job to the book because it turned out to be a very original piece of writing. It has included quirky characters to make the reading more interesting for the readers. Sachar has done a very creative job with combining four different stories tied together into one. For instance, the main story is the one of Stanley Yelnats IV and his experiences at camp. Yet we also float with the story of Stanley Yelnats I who was robbed in the middle of the desert and survived by using "God's thumb"; there is Stanley's "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather" who got him into this mess in the first place; the sad story of Kissin' Kate Barlow, who robbed Stanley Yelnats I. These stories are incredibly floating together. Sachar also attached lots of humor to make the story sound funny. My opinion for this book is that it’s a very cool book to read since it has all qualities of creative, interesting, adventurous, and mysterious.
