Tough-O-Meter

We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)

(2) Sea Level

Although Holes is full of big questions about fate and justice and stuff like that, there really isn't anything in the book that makes reading it too tricky or difficult. The style is pretty straightforward, and there is very little use of figurative language (see the "Style" section for more on this). The story does switch back and forth between time periods (it's really three separate but related stories in one book), but the narrator gives us pretty clear clues about which story we're in, so it's easy to stay oriented. All in all, Holes delivers a lot of fun without asking you to work too hard for it.