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Holes book club

February 25, 2017 Ticia 10 Comments

Holes came out after my childhood.  This is a shame because I love Louis Sachar and as a kid, I read all of the Sideways Stories books, and in junior high, I had a blast figuring out the math problems of Sideways Arithmetic.  Louis Sachar’s Holes* came out the year I graduated college.  Holes was wildly popular, and a few years later the movie came out, and many elementary school reading teachers were happy because their reading lessons just became easier (every kid loves when there’s a movie for their required reading). I’m happy because I love our book and a movie book clubs, so it made this Holes book club a blast.

Holes book and a movie night

I watched Holes one day when the kids were little I decided to watch the movie, and loved it, for all of its absurdity.  I knew someday it’d be fun to watch with them.  I was right

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What is Holes by Louis Sachar about?

Holes-by-Louis-Sachar

Stanley Yelnats has bad luck.  His grandfather insists it’s because of his great great grandfather the pig thief.  Either way, Stanley’s bad luck has landed him at Camp Greenlake digging holes for 18 months.  While at Camp Greenlake he makes “friends” with a unique set of fellow inmates.  Can Stanley break his family’s bad luck or will his luck only get worse?

Holes book club

Hi, Future Ticia 2022 here, I’m updating this post to share it again, and realized I don’t have any book club ideas in here. This was early in our book club days where we just had lots of informal discussions, so I’m going to send you over to Hide the Chocolate’s Holes Book Club. I’ve used both her Mary Poppins and 1984 book club. I highly recommend her book clubs.

Holes Movie Night snacks

Holes movie night snacks

Our snacks were a little unusual for our Holes* movie night.  I asked the kids what snacks we needed for watching Holes, they said, “God’s Thumb!  Armpit hair!  We need something to represent zero.”

So, I did my best to make their ideas come true.

Holes-movie-night-snacks-from-characters

We had Fudge Stripes* for “Zero.” Licorice whips cut up short for “Armpit hair.”

holes-movie-night-snacks-rattlesnakes

Creamy Jalapeno (bought from a local restaurant, but this recipe is similar) for rattlesnake venom (I should have done yellow lizard venom).  The chips represented rattlesnake fangs.  Gummy worms* represented the rattlesnakes.  That bowl was pretty empty by the end of the movie.

holes-movie-night-snacks-dirt-and-shovels

Oreos* opened up with pretzel sticks* were shovels, accompanied by a bowl of “dirt” for each kid to eat.  The dirt was chocolate pudding* (I used a mix, but these pudding cups would have been handy)  with the other half of the Oreos crumpled up on top of them.  They were wildly popular.

As those boys were digging they ran into limestone rocks from time to time, so of course, we had some limestone.  Represented by the healthy version with grilled chicken and less healthy version of marshmallows.

holes-movie-night-snacks-drinks

For our beverages, we had 2 liters of Coke, Dr Pepper, and Sprite as clean and dirty water.  The kids quite approved.  If anyone in my family liked peaches it would have made sense thematically to have peaches, but no one would have eaten them, and I was trying to think of a way to get onions in since that’s also a plot point, but I never thought of a good onion treat.

Any suggestions for a good onion snack we could have done for our Holes movie night?

Oh, maybe Funions? My kids don’t really like Funions, so that would be kind of pointless.

More 4th-grade book and a movie nights for you to try after your Holes Movie Night

  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins book club
  • James and the Giant Peach book club
  • Because of Winn-Dixie book club
  • Tale of Despereaux book club
  • The Witches book club
Holes book club and movie night

“Millet field after harvest” by TREEAID is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

reading and writing 4th grade, book and a movie

Comments

  1. Dawn says

    February 26, 2017 at 7:03 am

    I love your snack ideas. We have this on our movie list and haven’t gotten to it yet.
    Blessings, Dawn

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      February 26, 2017 at 9:38 am

      You’ll enjoy it once you see it!

  2. Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says

    February 26, 2017 at 9:38 am

    Love this! Pickled pearl onions,but they probably wouldn’t have eaten them either. Your kids are going to remember these movie nights the rest of their lives!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      February 26, 2017 at 9:41 am

      Yeah, I was thinking maybe onion soup, but I’m not sure.

  3. maryanne says

    March 5, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    I wonder if my kids would enjoy this book? I started it and it just didn’t appeal to me, but maybe I just needed to read further in.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      March 6, 2017 at 7:29 am

      If they like absurdity they’ll probably like it. It’s one of those books that is quite absurd in the details, and while the nice guy finishes last for so much of the time, in the end it all comes out right.

  4. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants says

    March 6, 2017 at 1:00 am

    I don’t think A tried this book. She liked anything by Louis Sachar, so I will point it out to her. Lovely snacks too!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      March 6, 2017 at 7:29 am

      Thanks! The kids had so much fun brainstorming snack ideas this time.

  5. Johnelle Alston says

    April 19, 2017 at 7:55 am

    THANK YOU so much for these ideas! We are having a learning experience in my son’s 4th grade class and you definitely steered me in the right direction! Wish I could share a pic with you.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      April 19, 2017 at 9:45 am

      If you want, you can email it to me, because I’d love to see it!

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Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

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