Holes as the Recipient of a Newbery Award Essay

Review of a Newbery Award

When starting this project I began by thinking of which books I read as child that I still remember and those that made a lasting impact. After remembering a few of those books, Hatchet, Holes, Shiloh and The Giver I was initially surprised at how many of them had won Newbery Medals and Honors. However, the reason I probably read those books instead of others is because they were deserved winners of this award. However the one book that stood out for me was Holes by Louis Sachar. It was the lasting image of Stanley, the main character, standing in a five feet wide and five feet deep hole that he spent all day digging, that I remember most vividly and is why I wanted to write review this Newbery book. I first read this book sometime around third grade when this book was published in late 1998. The book won the Newbery Medal beating Richard Pecks A Long Way from Chicago. The story is set somewhere in the middle of the Texas desert, making it one of the only books that I have read that is set in Texas and growing up reading this book I thought that this place was real and I wanted to see this flat lakebed with thousands of holes dug into it. It was easily the most popular book during this time in my school and was a book that everyone had read or decided to read for their summer reading requirement. Holes, is not only an enjoyable read but it leaves you aching for more. At times it will make you laugh, it will make you sad all while leaving you on the edge of your seat as you continue to read it.

The story itself is set at detention camp in the middle of nowhere in Texas, where Stanley was sent to for a crime that he did not commit. Stanley and his family are constantly unlucky because of a curse that was placed on his great great grandfather. Stanley and the other boys at the camp are forced to dig large holes in the dirt every day. He eventually realizes that they are digging these holes because the Warden is searching for a buried fortune. Stanley befriends many of the other juvenile delinquents as they struggle to deal with life at the camp. One day while digging Stanley finds a lipstick tube with the initials KB on them, we previously found out the history of the site and know realize what the warden is searching for. Stanleys friend Zero runs away from the camp and Stanley follows to help his friend survive. After surviving a week away from the camp they return to uncover a suitcase, in the same hole as the lipstick tube, which contains many valuables that belonged to Stanleys great grandfather. Stanley is proved innocent in his crime and is allowed to leave the camp with the suitcase and the family curse is broken.

This book is worthy of this honor because it is a well written and entertaining adventure story that is packed with sudden and peculiar twists. Louis Sachar describes the life of an ordinary boy whose life was suddenly turned around. He shows how someone can adapt into a strange environment, makes friends, and deals with the hardships of life. This is something that all kids universally go through. Sachars novel is a more dramatic presentation of what kids face in life but it is something that everyone can relate to. The hero Stanley achieved so much, with such little hope and is an inspirational figure that all kids can look up to because of how he stood up for what he believed in.