HOLES: Holiday Activities

READ FROM CHAPTER 8 TO CHAPTER 12 TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITIES

A- Chapter 8

Read chapter 8 and then complete the paragraph with the missing information. How much do you remember?

Yellow-spotted lizards have green __________, red eyes, __________ teeth and white __________.  They live in holes in the ground that offer __________ from the sun and protection from predatory birds.  They have strong, __________ legs, and can __________ out of very deep holes to attack their __________.  They eat small animals, insects, certain cactus __________, and the __________ of sunflower seeds.

B- Chapter 9

In chapter 9 different things and characters are compared to something else. Read the chapter and match the two lists:

1. a shower                                                       a. a wreck
2. the recreation room                                       b. a lump
3. broken                                                           c. heaven
4. the surface of the table                                 d. Bag Barf
5. a big tough boy                                             e. a caveman
6. Stanley                                                          f. people
7. the boy that had slept in Stanley’s bed         g. the surface of the lake

C- Read chapters 10, 11 and 12 to answer the following questions:

1. How many parts of Stanley’s body ache? Name them:

2. Stanley finds a fossil but when Mr. Pendanski says that the warden is not interested in rocks or fossils he is very disappointed. What do you think the warden is interested in finding?

3. Explain why X-Ray has got such a nickname. Read the note to help you.

NOTE

Pig Latin is a language game of alterations played on English. It is spoken by people who want to be silly, or for kids who don't want their parents to know what they're talking about. To form the Pig Latin form of an English word the first consonant is moved to the end of the word and an “ay” is affixed (for example, “pig” becomes  “igpay” and “computer”,  “omputercay. The objective is to conceal the meaning of the words from others not familiar with the rules.

4. Why does Stanley agree to give X-Ray anything he might find?

5. How does Stanley manage to finish his second hole?

6. What does Mr. Pendanski mean when he says “You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it.”?

 

 

READ FROM CHAPTER 13 TO CHAPTER 16, THEN FIND IN THE FOLLOWING SUMMARY OF EACH OF THE CHAPTERS THE WRONG INFORMATION AND CORRECT IT.

Chapter 13

Stanley’s third hole is not as hard as the first two! After a week he has already lost some weight and imagines himself in a year and a half either as really fit or dead. On a cloudy day he finds a shiny object while digging. It is a silver tube, open at one end.   The other end is engraved with a heart, inside which are the initials KB.  He thinks the tube looks familiar.  He shows the tube to X-Ray and suggests he waits until morning to show it to the Warden.  That way, he gets the whole day off, not just the afternoon.  When the water truck comes, X-Ray tells him to stand one place up in the line.

Chapter 14

At night Stanley wonders whether he has done the right thing. The following morning he is surprised when X-Ray snaps at him. Mr. Sir marches the boys out to the lake, spitting out sunflower seeds along the way.  When Mr. Pendanski arrives with the water truck, X-Ray shows him the metal tube.  He thinks the Warden will like it and returns with a tall woman with blond hair, wearing a black cowboy hat and black cowboy boots, studded with turquoise stones.    She is the Warden.  She gives X-Ray double showers and the day off.  She orders Mr. Pendanski to fill up the boys’ water bottles again, and threatens him when he refuses, saying the boys don’t need any more water.  She gives him the choice of filling the water bottles or digging holes! The Warden comes across as a sympathetic person.

Chapter 15

The Warden gets the boys to pair up and dig where she thinks Stanley found the tube.  She makes Mr Pendanski organize the boy’s work. She stays to watch and makes sure the boys get plenty of water. The other boys warn Stanley that there are hidden cameras and microphones all around the camp, even in the showers, and that the Warden watches them all the time.  This is how she knows their nicknames. Stanley realizes that they are not digging to ‘build character’ but are looking for something. Unfortunately he does not remember exactly in which hole he found the tube.

Chapter 16

X-Ray is in a very good mood after his day off and annoys the other boys in the Wreck Room.  The next morning, the Warden again puts them into pairs, one to dig and one to move the dirt away.  Stanley moves the dirt, as he is such a slow digger.  The Warden does not seem to lose patience, and tells everyone to keep on digging.  Mr. Sir reminds them they are not in the Girl Scouts.  Later, Mr. Pendanski gives Stanley a letter from his mother.  She says his father is close to a breakthrough on the trainer project.  Zero wants to know what is in the letter. Stanley is not surprised that Zero has never heard of a well-known nursery rhyme.

 

 

READ FROM CHAPTER 17 TO CHAPTER 21 AND MATCH EACH CHAPTER WITH A HEADING.

HEADINGS                                                            CHAPTER NUMBER

A.    Getting into trouble                                        ......

B.    Much to everyone’s surprise                          ......

C.    A weird request                                              ......

D.    Things get rough                                            ......

E.    An evil temper                                                ......

 

 -->READ FROM CHAPTER 22 TO CHAPTER 29 TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITIES

a. Read chapter 22 and answer these questions:

1.     Why does Stanley say “If anybody had X-ray vison, it was Zero?”

2.     Explain the meaning of the following:

“Well, I’ve heard it before, somewhere,” Zero said, trying to act like it was nothing, but his big smile gave him away. (pag. 97)

3.     What deal do Stanley and Zero make?

4.     What does Stanley discover about Zero in this chapter?

5.     What two other things does he discover?

b. Read chapter 23 and answer these questions:

1.     Who are Trout Walker and Clyde Livingston? What do they have in common?

2.     What do you learn about Kate Barlow in this chapter?

c. What information is missing in this summary of chapter 24?

Stanley is ............................ of seeing Mr. Sir.  When he does, Mr. Sir’s face is scratched and swollen.  Mr. Sir hurts another boy who ............................ him what has happened to his face.  During the day, Mr. Sir comes with the water truck.  He ............................ everyone’s water bottles.  Stanley is the ............................ in line.  He holds Stanley’s bottle next to the water, and lets the water splatter onto the .............................  He gives Stanley back an empty bottle.  Stanley is too ............................ to complain and just ............................ Mr. Sir.

d. Read chapter 25 to find out who Sam is. Choose from the following list the words or expressions that relate to him.

doctor        magic                   music                   raw vegetables            boat

horse         handyman            onion field            spiced peaches           cures

Indian        broken heart         twenty                  bald

e. Chapter 26: Put the events in chronological order

From that day on, no rain ever fell on the lake again.  God’s punishment?

Three days later Katherine shot the sheriff, carefully applied red lipstick and gave the sheriff the kiss he had wanted.

Katherine ran to the sheriff.

They took Sam’s boat but were caught up by Trout Walker’s motorized boat, which smashed into Sam’s boat.

He was drunk and asked Katherine for a kiss.

For the next twenty years, Kissin’ Kate Barlow was one of the most feared outlaws in the entire West, only kissing the men she killed.

Everyone in Green Lake was horrified that Katherine Barlow had kissed Sam the onion man.

Katherine was taken ashore where she saw Mary Lou had also been shot with a bullet.

He said that it was against the law for a Negro to kiss a white woman, and he would be hanged.

When she refused he became violent and tried to force her to kiss him.

Sam was shot dead.

A mob came and burned down the schoolhouse.

She ran, found Sam and told him to try and escape.

f. Answer the following questions from chapters 27, 28 and 29:

1- In chapter 27 Zero tells Stanley that his real name is Hector Zeroni. On what pages before in the book have we read that surname?

2- What can the relationship be between Zero and these other characters called Zeroni?

3- Twenty years after Sam’s death Kate returns to Green Lake. What has changed there since Sam’s death? Find all the differences.

4- What elements are mentioned in chapter 28 that relate to the Warden?

5- Why does Kate die laughing?

6- In chapter 29 while a storm is forming Stanley can see the outline of the mountains.  One looks like a giant fist with an outstretched thumb. What relationship is there between that mountain and his great-grandfather?