Holes
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Stanley is sent to a desert camp for a crime he did not do, and every boy there must dig a big hole each day. He makes friends with a boy called Zero and teaches him to read. Old family stories about a curse, a lost treasure and an outlaw come together, and Stanley's kindness sets things right. Funny and full of friendship, but with real violence and a family curse to talk about. Age 10, set by Common Sense Media.
For parents
Age 10, set by Common Sense Media's 10+ rating. Read aloud from 9. Common Sense notes bullying, fights, guns, a racist murder in flashback, a teen imagining an adult 'great in a bathing suit,' and a Romani fortune teller drawn as a mystical stereotype. Wikipedia adds a burned schoolhouse and Kate Barlow dying from a lizard bite; LitCharts, a shot donkey. On the curse: we don't fear curses, we 'put ourselves confidently into the hands of Providence' (CCC 2115).