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The Hole in the Wall Kindle Edition

by Lisa Rowe Fraustino (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
See all formats and editions

WINNER OF THE MILKWEED PRIZE FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Eleven-year-old Sebby has found the perfect escape from his crummy house and bickering family—a secret cave he calls “The Hole in the Wall.” It’s all the more beautiful for being in the midst of a devastated mining area behind his home. But soon after Sebby finds the hideaway, his world starts falling apart: his family’s chickens disappear, he falls ill with the mother of all stomachaches, and he finds a special pair of eyeglasses that show him a world where colors come alive and fly through the air.

When Sebby sets out to solve these mysteries, he and his twin sister, Barbie, get caught in a wild chase through the tunnels around The Hole in the Wall—all leading them to the mining activities of astrophysicist Stanley Odum, who has been buying up all the land behind Sebby’s home. Exactly what is Mr. Odum mining in his secret facility, and does it have anything to do with these mysterious developments? The answers to these questions take the twins to places they never could have imagined.

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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    Baby - 11 years
  2. Print length
    234 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    Preschool - 6
  5. Publisher
    Milkweed Editions
  6. Publication date
    July 1, 2010
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  11. ISBN-13
    978-1571316967
  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Everything has changed for Sebby, 11, and his twin, Barbara, as they struggle with their furious, depressed, unemployed dad and with the serious physical damage to their chicken farm. Strip mining has turned the surrounding landscape into an “ashtray,” the family's chickens disappear, and there are no fish in the brook. Wealthy local astrophysicist Stanley Odum has bought up lots of land in the area. What is he planning to do with it? After Sebby stumbles into a mysteriously green glen and a surrounding network of tunnels that allow him and Barbara to spy on mining officials and their goons, the plot twists and turns from one surprising discovery to another, and the technical details are sometimes difficult even for Sebby to follow. More than the science-fiction elements, it’s the urgent details of conservation that will pull readers, and when the issues reach right to Sebby’s home, the questions increase. His older brother has gone missing: Is he a prisoner or in secret quarantine? How is the kids’ dad involved? Winner of the Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature, this title will capture young environmentalists. Grades 5-8. --Hazel Rochman

Review


Seb Daniels is growing up in a despoiled landscape going haywire in a specifically 21st century way. Lisa Rowe Fraustino is masterful in this tale of surreal survival.”

 Richard Peck, winner of the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00452VD00
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Milkweed Editions (July 1, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 1, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 792 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 234 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

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Lisa Rowe Fraustino

Lisa Rowe Fraustino

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Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
6 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Linda JS
5.0 out of 5 stars Curious
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2012
Verified Purchase
Hole in the Wall is an ecological, dystopia novel that explores the trouble fracturing mining can do to a whole section of a West Virginia county. It is lively and adventuresome, recommended for 11-14 year olds. It has good pacing, family characters, suspense and a satisfying conclusion. The word choice and conversation of characters is sometimes awkward but it is always interesting.
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Linda A. Beaudoin
5.0 out of 5 stars The Hole in the Wall
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2010
Verified Purchase
This book was wonderful. It kept you attention. I believe this is a book an adult as well as a child would enjoy.
One person found this helpful
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Julie A. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Genuine adventure for your middle reader
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2011
FIRST SENTENCE: When he got the idea that would change his life, he was lying on his back in the cave near his home.

Eleven-year-old Sebby (Sebastian) has a fertile imagination and a lot of problems. His older brother Jeb ran away after an argument with his Pa about the damage his childhood friend Stan Odum's company has done to their community with his strip-mining; his Pa, who used to be nice, is now jobless and drinks; his teacher, Ms. Byron, is on his case about getting his homework completed and signed, and now his mother's chickens are laying what seem like petrified eggs.

In Kokadjo Gore, Sebby's family, including Grum (his grandmother) and his twin sister Barbara (Barbie), are one of the only families that haven't sold their property to Stan Odum, owner of Odum's Research. Although Pa and Stan were friends in childhood, Pa wasn't able to get a maintenance job at Stan's company, and now he pretty much drinks, cusses, snores, and watches television while Ma goes to work every day at the dress factory in nearby Exton. Even so, Pa remains strictly loyal to Stan, which caused a huge argument with Sebby's older brother Jed after Pa caught Jed protesting against ORC. After the argument, Jed ran away, and their only contact with him is a pre-arranged telephone signal when he lets the phone ring once and then hangs up - just to let them know he's OK.

Sebby has a secret hideout in the middle of ORC property - a cave he calls the Hole in the Wall, where the rocks sometimes flow with strange colors, and where he goes to escape chores and homework. When his mother's chickens first begin laying eggs as hard as rocks, and then disappear, Sebby and Barbie find an opening in the shack behind their house that leads to a tunnel filled with a vein of the flowing colors.

As Sebbie and Barbie investigate the mystery of the colors, a group of people, including their friend Cluster, disappear and overnight, an ORC sign is placed on their property. Seemingly dead, petrified chickens come to life when colors flow from them back to the vein of colors, and anything contaminated with the colors, including Sebby, has a strange magnetism that pulls towards the colors.

Will Sebbie and Barbie be able to find out what ORC is REALLY doing in the Gore and stop them before Pa talks Ma into selling out the property that has been in her family for generations? Or will Stan and his money win in the end?

This is an entertaining middle reader that will keep you turning pages. Written in the genuine voice of a regular kid, the perspective is spot-on, and the reader can actually hear Sebbie's voice and totally identify with him. I love a middle reader where the main character actually feels like the true-blue article, and where all of the characters are actually seen through a real kid's eyes, and not in a fashion that is suitable for an older person.

It's easy for me to see why this author has won so many awards for children's literature, and why this novel won the Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature. If you're looking for the genuine article, a book that neither talks down to or is too complex for your own middle reader, filled with adventures and imagination, this is the title for you.

QUOTES (from an eGalley; may be different in finished copy):

The colors always disappeared as soon as he became aware of them and he was never able to revive the same vision. Each sighting felt like a gift and a loss at once.

Cluster called their house the Love Shack. People in town called their place Zensylvania or just "the commune". Pa called them whacked-out yippie-hippie-doo-da-dopeheads and me and Barbie to stay away from there.

Her back was hunched way more than Grum's. She had the absolute worst case of Not-Enough-Milk-When-I-Was-Your-Age Disease I'd ever seen.

Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Plot: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Characters: 4 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 4.125 out of 5 stars
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Lori Katz
4.0 out of 5 stars One part science fiction, one part mystery, one part environmental.
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2011
Strange things are happening to Sebby, his family and around his home. His dad is out of work and his mom is overworked. His grandmother has moved in forcing Sebby to share a room with his twin sister Barb. His older brother has disappeared and the chickens are laying eggs hard as rock. The hole in the wall is his hide-a-way spot to get away from all his troubles. Soon though Barb joins him in trying to figure out just what is causing the beautiful colors they see floating around, why a baby chick has attached itself to his belly and why he has had an unnatural growth spurt.

Written in Sebby's voice, Lisa Rowe Fraustino has us believing in the magic (or is it science?) Though the twins bicker their love for one another shines through as does their mom's. They act as young children would in their situation even questioning their feelings for their father as he disappoints them continuously. Sebby has a sense of humor as does big brother Jed that will make kids laugh.

Part science fiction, part mystery, part environmental, The Hole in the Wall will keep readers turning the pages.
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