Krishna
This is a children’s book so many of you may not be interested. But what a book! It is one of the most delightful books I have read. It is amazing how there are tie-ins from the beginning of the book to practically every stage of the story. It is a delightfully woven story, well told, and phenominally complete because of all the tie-ins.
This is the story of the Yelnats family, who, when they discover that Stanley is Yelnats spelt backwards, names all their male children Stanley Yelnats, just to get a kick out of the perfect Palindrome that the name makes.
Our Stanley, who is a boy, is wrongfully arrested, accused of stealing the sneakers of a famous Baseball player Clyde Livingston, and is sent to do community servide to Camp GreenLake, which is neither Green nor has a Lake. The idea of character development their is abject slavery to the wishes of the Warden, Mr Sir, and others, and the main preoccupation seems to be digging holes every day.
There are five other kids in Cabin D where Stanley ends up and everyone has a nickname. Stanley himself is called Caveman, and there is Zigzag, Zero, and three other boys. The links in the story are repeatedly to properties of Onions, a pirate called Kissing Kate Barlow, Stanley’s own great great grandfather, yellow spotted and poisonous lizards, etc.
The boys discover that it is not just to develop their character that the boys are to dig holes…
Stanley gets into lots of trouble just trying to fit in, and just because he exists, supported only by Zero, who wants to learn to read and write with Stanley. Ultimately, they manage to run away and survive against the odds in the mountainous terrain, where nothing can grow…
They return to the camp to look for a box buried in earlier times, only to be discovered by the very Warden from whom they were hiding.
Mr Sir keeps admonishing them that they are in Camp Green Lake and not in Girl Scouts camp. When the camp is finally closed down, no prizes for guessing what takes its place!
It is a children’s book and reads like one. But due to the exceptional nature of the writing and because of the lovely sense of completeness and satisfaction you get when you read this, I will definitely award it a 9/10
— Krishna