#stanley yelnats survival guide to camp green lake

[pezboisworld]

I like to imagine that Hector in the novel, is Stanley's foil.

Consider their families. While the Yelnats like to say they are cursed, from what we know about the Zeroni's, we can tell the Zeroni's are far worse off.

For years, Hector and his mother hopped from place to place. Unable to settle down. Then they didn't live anywhere. All of that was when Hector was little. It was implied they were separated when he was much younger. He'd been alone for years.

If we take Hector as Stanley's inverse, there are some things we can find out about Hector through Stanley.

Physically Stanley is big and tall, while Hector is small and short.

Stanley is the slowest digger in camp, while Hector is the fastest.

When Stanley looks to the stars he can find stories, while Hector could only see shovels. Even Hector's imagination remained rooted to the earth.

Where Stanley is open, Hector is private.

Stanley was an average student, Hector is remarkably intelligent. As shown with Hector being good with numbers and later in Stanley Yelnats’ Survive Guide to Camp Green Lake when Hector settles into school once he has a support system.

In camp Stanley was the only one who ever found anything. Stanley has a knack for finding things, while Hector could lose an imaginary friend (he just like me fr).

[wedarkacademia]

But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you.

― Louis Sachar, Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

[twicedailyquotes]

But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you.  You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you.

Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

[fairydrowning]

– Louis Sachar, "Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake"

[TEXT ID: But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you. END ID]

[shutupsaumm]

But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you.

- Louis Sachar, Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

[ceruleanmusings]

hey! i’m loving Inconsolable! I just have one question: What made you make Squid diabetic? Is there any lines in the source text? (I haven’t read the book in years.) I don’t mean this negatively, I’m just very interested in how fic writers make these decisions and what leads them to it! (:

hi there! thanks for reading my fanfic! it came at a good time, i'm working on getting the next chapter up this week!

there isn't any source material in the books about squid being diabetic, that's to say in canon he is not diabetic, and that's partially why i made the choice to make him diabetic.

compared to the other characters, we know next to nothing about him except for him being x-ray's right hand man/being seen as the "tough guy in d-tent", being upset about something (most likely that he doesn't have a loving mom like stanley) to the point he cried one night, and having shit parents. at the end he asks stanley to tell his mom that he, alan, was sorry for something. this was changed to armpit in the movie and it bugged me because it stripped us of the smallest glimpse into squid's life pre cgl.

squid is basically a blank slate. he has a missing dad, an alcoholic mom, and, as per the movie and it's deleted scenes, kind of dumb but also seen as tough. that's all we get. the fact that stanley yelnats' guide to surviving camp green lake stated he was arrested for breaking into homes to steal loose change and soda cans made me think "that's a very small reason to be arrested and put to labor" (ignoring the breaking in part). though if he was stealing that i thought "if he's stealing soda cans it must be because he's selling them for money." and then i thought "if he's selling it for money, he most likely is poor." and then i thought "if he's that poor then it's either because of his mom spending all his money on booze (which may account for potentially not holding down a job?) or there's another factor that's making them be short on money." so then i wondered what could make someone constantly short on money? medication. what medication is expensive (especially now)? insulin.

i then dove into hundreds and hundreds of YT videos, blog posts, reddit posts, and medical journals talking about insulin and it's history, how it was handled in the 90s, the effects if it's not taken properly, personal stories about how they manage it, and i had one reviewer on FFN give me some extra details to fix any mistakes i made in my portrayal.

it just made sense to me and how i see squid in my head. he's angry a lot because he has next to no control over his life. that's all he wants, that's his goal, control and agency. to live his life his way. not to have society telling him where he's supposed to be and where he's supposed to stay because of his (lack) of money, because of his alcoholic mom, because of his missing dad, because of his bad grades, because of his (terrible) friends (excluding mickey.) the biggest blow was being chained to life-saving medicine that he (technically) can't control either. it has control over him. (plus, it shows extra audacity for cgl to sometimes purposefully withholding squid's insulin as a form of punishment. especially from pendanski.)

once he finally reaches a point where he realizes that he can control how he reacts to those things and the outcomes, he'll grow and be headed in the right direction. it's taking him some time but he's getting there.

thanks for asking! i love when people ask me questions like this! i don't really ever get a chance to discuss my thought process and the choices i make for my fics, the behind the scenes as it were, so this was fun! if you (or anyone else), have any questions please feel free to ask!

[fred-erick-frankenstein]

I still think it's funny (more: ironic, intertextual) that Mr. Sir both in the book and movie has a rattlesnake tattoo and then later this scene happens

[ID: a gif from the movie "Holes" showing Sigourney Weaver as Warden slapping Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) across the face, scarring him with her venom coated fingernails. /end ID].

[carriagelamp]

Coming in just under the wire... my top (...or well, in some cases the most distinctive) books I read in 2022!

You know, I was startled to realize that while I did read a rather nice collection of queer lit this year, I didn't read a single Canadian novel. This is the first year in a few I haven't been able to put at least one on my list... I'll have to remedy that next year.

I'll do a brief description of the books, for those who are curious, but my more robust summaries/reviews are in the monthly reviews.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson -- a story about an orphan who receives a birthday gift of sand from his presumably long dead parents and gets drawn into a strange, magical adventure by his mysterious grandfather

Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales -- a crime noir adventure comic featuring beautiful art and stunning scenery

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy -- a gentle collection of affirmations forming a loose, beautifully drawn narrative

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell -- a story about the chosen one attending a magical school and his rival - rather obviously a parody but it successfully creates characters, narrative, and romance that fully stands on its own

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming -- a story about a family who buy a very special car, one which seems to have a life of its own as it reveals a startling range of abilities and cunning that guide them through adventure

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden -- the sequel to Small Spaces, the children have survived their meeting with the Smiling Man and hope that life can return to normal... however when they get snowed in to a ski lodge it becomes quickly evident their holiday will be anything but that

Failed Princesses by Ajiichi -- a classic shoujo premise, in which a popular student and a nerd have a tumultuous first meeting but gradually find themselves warming to each other and slowly a romance begins to bloom... but now with lesbians!

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman -- the quirky explanation a father offers to his children, to justify why he was so late getting back from the shop with the milk...

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xui -- the powerful and feared Yiling Patriarch has been killed and the world is better for it... except years later he has found himself summoned back to the land of the living, his soul stuffed inside a body, and mysterious crimes of the past bubbling back up

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman -- a cute comic showing the developing friendships, relationships, identities, and mental health between Charlie Spring, Nick Nelson, and their collection of friends

Holes by Louis Sachar -- classic novel of Stanley Yelnats, a boy suffering under the curse of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, who has found himself wrongly accused of theft and now struggling to find his place and survive at the detention center Camp Green Lake

Icebreaker by A. L. Graziadei -- a story about hockey protege Mickey James III who has a heavy family legacy to live up to and is fighting desperately for the NHL top draft spot... except his top rival is attending the same college as him and isn't going to make things easy

In Deeper Waters by F. T. Luckens -- I'll be honest, I don't remember what this book is about besides pirates, magic, and queer characters... it was a fun enough read but obviously not overly memorable

The Iron Giant // The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes -- originally published as The Iron Man, this is a classic romp about a young boy who overcomes his community's fear and befriends a massive robot which appeared one day from the sea. I also read its sequel, The Iron Woman, which may be even better, and is about another massive robot who has bears the agonies of aquatic life being slowly poisoned and has now appeared to reap vengeance on those responsible for polluting the water

Kase-san and the Morning Glories by Hiromi Takashima -- an adorable series about shy, clumsy Yamada who becomes entranced by the beautiful, outgoing track star, Kase.

Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono -- the novel that inspired the Ghibli film; this book is about a young witch who has set off to spend a year on her own, developing her craft and earning her own way

Minecraft: The Mountain by Max Brooks -- I found the first book very intriguing, though this sequel was only middling. The character from the first book has left his island and has found a whole new world with whole new challenges, everything from new animals, a new friend, and a whole new deadly world to explore

Modelland by Tyra Banks -- my girlfriend read this together mostly as a joke, but my god what a wild ride I don't know if I've ever laughed so much at a book. This is Harry Potter but for a deranged magical modelling based society with the most insane strings of words you have ever seen in one place

Orphaned by Eliot Schrefer -- a book about a young gorilla who finds herself separated from her family and forced to take care of her little brother, all while being stalked by a strange new sort of creature in their jungle home...

Outbursts of Everett True by A. D. Condo and J. W. Raped -- an old newspaper comic about the Everett True, a man who goes about his life giving rude, nasty, and generally unpleasant jerks the walloping we all secretly wish we could unleash

Prince of Song and Sea by Linsey Miller -- a Little Mermaid story, told through the eyes of Prince Eric, with a whole new cast of characters, lore, curses, and exciting worldbuilding

Queer Ducks by Eliot Schrefer -- a well-researched and very readable nonfiction popsci book that explores the complexity of sex and gender in the animal world

Touching Spirit Bear // Ghost of Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen -- a childhood classic about Cole Matthew who, after beating a child badly enough to cause permanent injury, has to come to terms with his anger through a form of restorative justice that sees him on a lonely island and in the path of a majestic and dangerous white bear

Witch Week // Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones -- two different novels by Diana Wynne Jokes, first a reread, second a new one for me. Witch Week is a favourite, about witch orphans living at a bording school in which a note warns that someone in the class is a witch. The second is about orphan Earwig and her battle against the witch who adopted her with the intention to use her as a slave.

[pezboisworld]

The Backstreet Boys were referenced in the Holes universe in an unexpected way.

During Stanley's time spent at Camp Green Lake another camper brought a CD with them. That kid would play the one song from that burned CD over and over again.

A song I feel that the small Holes fandom would appreciate.

If you want it to be good, girl

Get yourself a bad boy

Get it like it could be, would be

Yeah, like it should be

Get yourself a bad boy

[m5xw3ll]

“But don’t forget who you really are. And I’m not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you. You know who you really are. When you’re alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you.”

- Louis Sachar, Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

[the-happy-lobster]

But don't forget who you really are. And I'm not talking about your so-called real name. All names are made up by someone else, even the one your parents gave you.  You know who you really are. When you're alone at night, looking up at the stars, or maybe lying in your bed in total darkness, you know that nameless person inside you.  Your life is about to be ripped apart. You will be turned into a digging machine. Your muscles will toughen. So will your heart and soul. That's necessary for survival. But don't lose touch with that person deep inside you, or else you won't really have survived at all.” ― Louis Sachar, Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

[lostitjohannahairas]

Holes - Adaption

In 2003, Walt Disney Pictures released a film version of Holes, which was directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar.

Sequels:

Two companion novels have followed Holes: Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake (2003) and Small Steps (2006). 

Stanley Yelnats's Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

As Louis Sachar states: "Should you ever find yourself at Camp Green Lake or somewhere similar this is the guide for you." Written from Stanley's point of view, the book offers advice on everything from scorpions, rattlesnakes, yellow-spotted lizards, etc. 

Small Steps

In this sequel to Holes, former inmate Armpit is now 17 and struggling with the challenges facing an African American teenager with a criminal history. A new friendship with Ginny, who has cerebral palsy, a reunion with former friend X-Ray, a ticket-scalping scheme, a beautiful pop singer, and a frame-up all test Armpit’s resolve to  "Just take small steps and keep moving forward".

[nickelbooks]

Stanley Yelnats Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

Stanley Yelnats Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake

[aseaofquotes]

[pezboisworld]

Silly au: d-tent boys all go to the same college with Hector and Stanley in already established relationships. Stanley studying to be an archaeologist, Hector a mathematician( I headcanon that Hector is a genius especially in Mathematics and I'm just imagining him filling in chalkboards with difficult equations. Think good will hunting the movie)

Not silly at all.

A college AU with the Holes characters would be pretty interesting actually.

I couldn't see all of them going to college, but definately the majority of them after counciling should be ready for it.

Can easily see Stanley and Hector both going to college. Always saw Stanley trying to give back to under-served kids and communities through teaching, counseling, or therapy. So he could study psychology or education. The thing about Hector is he has a natural affinity for numbers, but has to do a lot of catching up from his early years of homelessness. Mathematics is a specialized degree, though. He'd likely have to go to a college that specializes in that. I can't see any of them moving far from Austin for too long. After so long apart from his mom, Hector won't move away for college. No recruitor would sway him on that. Then there is Stanley. They are definitely together by their 20s. And Stanley studying something more generalized would also keep Hector local. Eventually he may have to consider moving to continue his education if he seeks a bachelor's, but Stanley is coming with him. By then they might even be married.

Also going to college I could see X-Ray and Squid. In the Sequel Small Steps, X-Ray shows his familiarity with the law and a detective recommends he become a lawyer. And with his personality, critical thinking, and oratory skills he would be a great lawyer. Oppertunities would be there for him and he would take every chance he got. Then in Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake we learn why Squid had a rubber Squid at camp. He loved marine life and aspired to be a marine biologist. And while this is possible, it is expensive I could see him working as a line cook to pay his way through school. And he can continue this seasonal work between field research if he had to. His knowledge of ocean life could relate back to his cooking if he specialized in seafood.

Magnet would study to be a vet or animal caretaker at a santuary because he loves animals. Can't see him ever condoning cages or small enclosures considering he stole a designer puppy that was caged up. He could see him as a veterinary assistant with just a high school diploma. If he gets an Associates he could be a vet tech (which is more interesting). A cool job he could do without any schooling is working with an ethical breeder. I could see Jose doing it all and hopping job to job.

Not sure what Armpit or Zig-zag would study while at college. These two are still figuring themselves out. Armpit in the sequel, Small Steps Armpit continues digging holes for a landscaping service. Gets wrapped up in an assassination attempt that makes him take things slow. But he's going to college for something even if it is a general major.

With Zig-zag, he definitely applies for the military. And since he was convicted for arson he will likely get rejected. At camp he had the TV guide memorized and knew the time of day without a clock based entirely on showtimes and could tell you what would be on and which channel. After being released he didn't care for TV anymore because there was nothing good on TV anymore. Why not get into making TV shows. He's creatuve enough to be a writer. This could give him a lot of time to learn a new skill. Maybe he learns video editing and gets into production somewhere. School wouldn't be needed for something like that. Or using his unique point of view as a comedian.

For whose definately not going to college, probably Twitch. According to Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake, Brian started a band. With a successful music career I can't see him continuing his education unless it's something he can finish quickly related to his other interests like a trade or 2 year degree. Likely becomes an online personality before that. Using his indie fame to market himself would be right up his alley.

[pezboisworld]

More Stanely x Hector and Holes fic ideas:

1)Their was love letters and a journal with the treasure that Stanley and Hector start reading. They slowly fall in love over reading how Sam and Kate fell in love....and it's tragic ending.

2) Time travel shenanigans where the Hector, Stanley and the d tent boys end up in the past watching what happened to Kate and Sam. Maybe it's a back to the future situation or it's them watching the events happen like ghosts and not being able to do anything about it. If it's the first, lol imagine the boys trying to ride horse and blend in, and just trying to avoid the dangers of that time. D tent boys getting into shenanigans.

3)Cute post book/movie, d tent boys and Hector go to school with Stanley. Stanley and Hector are adorable and developing a relationship and the other d tent boys have to suffer the sweetness. Basically kind of small steps but different. Boys trying to get use being out in the world again. Found family with the boys. Armpit and Xray shenanigans. Hector basically not taking any shit from anyone so the d tent boys definitely learn he's alpha dog. Stanley being the mom friend. Also his parents and grandpa just being really nice to the boys.

4)5+1 fic where each d-tent boys figures out Stanley and Hector have a thing. This could be a whole thing where even Mr Sir, Padenski and even the warden figure it out too.

Appologies for the delay, wanted to give this submissions the response it deserves.

1) Antique love letters is such a brilliant writing device for a romance between Hector and Stanley. I may write this one myself. I would read this a thousand times because fans would all come at this concept differently.

2) Time travel is a brilliant way to get all the D-tent boys in on an adventure. As long as the time travel is set before the night they killed Sam I'd read it. Would enjoy the kids experiencing the irony of the false peace of Green Lake knowing that it implodes.

3) Will always support found family. Love to see more fluff with the D-tent boys.

4) This could easily go left and become too angsty for me. The sweet spot would be characters noticing something going on with Caveman and Zero, but choosing to mind their business. According to Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake there was an unspoken "don't ask questions" rule. Eventually someone will step in it and give Stanley and Hector a hard time, hopefully one of the other boys of D-tent stick up for them.