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Literature-based Skill Building:
Holes by Louis Sachar

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Chapter 24

Vocabulary: parched, cantaloupe, grotesque

Chapter 25:

Character anaylsis:

(This is a new skill, and a complex one. It can be replaced with a "Quote analysis" from the last page of the chapter (p. 111), when Sam says, "I can fix that.")

To understand a character's role in a story, it helps to look at that person from several angles.

When you're asked to describe or analyze a character, think SADDR, which stands for four ways of looking at a character: Speech, Action, Description, Drawing, and Reaction of others. )

Speech:

What does the character say? What does this tell you about the character?

For instance, Trout Walker says, "No one ever says 'No' to Charles Walker!" This tells you he usually gets his way, and that he wants to scare Kate into doing what he wants.

Choose something that Sam Walker says. What does it tell you about what he is like?

What did he say? ______________________________

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What does it tell you about him? _____________________________________________

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Action:

What does the character do? What does this tell you about the character?

For instance, Trout Walker "talked in class and was disrespectful of the students." This tells you that he was rude to people (and explains why Kate Barlow might not want to ride in his boat).

What does Sam the onion man do that tells you what kind of person he is?

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Description:

What does the author say about the character? What does that description tell you about him?

For instance, the author says that Trout Walker "was loud and stupid" and "seemed to be proud of his stupidity."

On the other hand, the book says that "Onion same had turned the old run-down schoolhouse into a well-crafted, freshly painted jewel of a building that the whole town was proud of."

What does this tell you about Sam? ________________

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Drawing: Draw Sam in a scene from chapter 25. Include at leats three details that help explain what Sam is like and what happens in this chapter.

Reaction of Others:

Kate turns down Trout Walker's offer for a boat ride; she doesn't like him because he is loud and stupid.

How do people treat Sam? How does Kate treat Sam?

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