Stanley Yelnats is the protagonist of Louis Sachar’s popular children’s book, Holes. His name is a palindrome, meaning that it’s exactly the same when read backwards. He’s depicted as overweight and unfortunate teenage boy. His family is poor and comes from a long line of people afflicted with misfortune and tragedy. The root of this misfortune is traced back to Stanley’s great-great-great-grandfather, Elya, who was cursed by a gypsy woman named Madame Zeroni.
Stanley runs into some trouble of his own when he is wrongly accused of stealing the shoes of Clyde “Sweet Feet” Livingston from a local orphanage. Due to his age, he has a choice of punishment: either jail or an extended stay at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention and correctional facility. Unfortunately for Stanley, there is no lake, and the work at Camp Green Lake is close to unbearable. Kids interred at Camp Green Lake are forced to dig holes out in the camp’s desert wasteland. The adults who run the camp (the Warden, Mr. Pedanski, and Mr. Sir) are abusive to the kids, forcing them to work long nd painful hours, with only cold showers and terrible food as a reprieve. Over time, Stanley gets suspicious about the holes he and the other kids are digging. They are told that they will build character, but Stanley believes the adults are looking for something. He soon finds out that the Warden is looking for Kate “Kissin’ Kate” Barlow’s treasure, a treasure supposedly hidden beneath Camp Green Lake many years before.
After a conflict involving the adults and Stanley’s good friend, Zero, Stanley finds the treasure in a hole of lethal yellow-spotted lizards. To his surprise, the treasure has his name on it. It belonged to his great-great-great-grandfather. After finding the treasure, Stanley is released from Camp Green Lake and he exposes the abuses committed by the adults, resulting in the closing of Camp Green Lake.
In 2003, Stanley Yelnats was played by Shia LaBeouf in the Holes movie.
via louissachar.com