Synopsis: This all new ‘Read & Respond’ title provides teachers with a range of activities to share and explore Louis Sachar’s Holes with their classes.

Review: Holes is an ideal text for classes in Upper KS2. Part rite-of-passage novel, part mystery story, part quest-adventure, the narrative style is deceptively simple, but sharp, entertaining and constantly thought-provoking, begging to be pondered, discussed and enjoyed.

Here, one of Scholastic’s new series of ‘Read & Respond’ titles provides teachers with some fine tools to do so. Divided into sections on guided and shared reading, textual analysis (plot, character and setting), speaking & listening, and writing, the activities would allow a teacher to construct their own extended unit of literacy work in line with the Renewed Framework. Each activity is headed by a learning objective from the Framework itself, and includes advice (some more profound than others) on differentiation for a range of abilities.

Although the worksheets are fairly predictable and unexciting, the discussion prompts and activities themselves are excellent: invitations to dig deeper into the puzzles and inferences of the text, to explore the multi-layered narrative structure, and to analyse and play with Sachar’s inimitable writing style. Opportunities to use ICT and multi-media (including a comparison of the film version) are suggested, and writing ideas cover a range of fiction and non-fiction text types.

 I was also pleased to see that a number of the activities are based on the early chapters of the book, enabling classes to dive into them in parallel with an ongoing reading of the whole text. This book should certainly provide inspiration and save time when planning exciting literacy encounters with Sachar’s novel. Of course, children will reap the full benefits only when Broad’s suggestions are used as a springboard for teachers’ own reading and creative thinking. As a model for how to teach literacy through literature, however, this ‘Read & Respond’ title has much to recommend it. I look forward to dipping into other books in the series.

2008-02-18