it all starts with a curse

I realized today that I never reviewed the last couple of Newbery medal winners that I read before my move. Thinking of Newbery winners made me scout out ours at Sticks Library; all the Newberys are interfiled, not separated as a special collection, same with the Caldecott medal winners. I added that to my list of to dos. Anyway, with no further ado:

I hadn't read anything by Louis Sachar since the Wayside Stories, way back when I was a kid, so reading Holes was a nice reminder of Sachar wonderful sense of humor that seeps from all of this books! In his 1999 Newbery winner, Holes Sachar weaves a web of intersecting stories that cross back and forth between present and past, across an ocean and into a desert.

Stanley Yelnats' family (Yelntas is Stanley spelled backwards) is cursed, so it makes total sense that he was wrongfully accused of a crime he didn't commit and sent to Camp Green Lake--who can he blame but his, "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather!" The family curse is only the tip of the iceberg in a story that also includes: the mystery of why the kids at Camp Green Lake spend their days digging holes; the drought that destroyed Green Lake; the infamous Kissing Kate Barlow; deadly lizards, onions, and more. This book is funny and interesting and I LOVED it. And I think kids will enjoy it.

As Book Cellar said, this book doesn't need more good press, it has tons, but you HAVE to read Book Cellar's Top 10 Reasons to Love Holes. 

Recommend it: Already have.
Ages: 9 and up

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