Newbery Books Worth Reading: Holes by Louis Sachar

I graduated high school the year Holes by Louis Sachar won the Newbery Award--and I was one of its biggest fans. I was first in line to see the movie with my brother. And I think it's one of the rare instances when the movie is almost as good as the book and you really should experience both.

Holes is a good book for anyone to read, but it's a great book for boys. And there are some interactive features to the book on Louis Sachar's website. That's where I saw this awesome new cover:

I'm usually pretty loyal to the original cover art, but I think this new one is pretty cool too.

Have you ever read Holes? Have you seen the movie? If not, this summer is a perfect time to fix that.
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Holes
By Louis Sachar
Publisher: Francis Foster
Year: 1998
Ages/Themes: Middle Grade, Newbery Books, Books for Boys, Movies

Newbery Books Worth Reading: The Graveyard Books

One of my favorite Newbery winning books is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. If you know anything about Neil Gaiman, you know that his books are often strange and a little bit dark. But if you like that kind of thing, Neil Gaiman is the very best. And this is the very best of Neil Gaiman.

It's about a boy who's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised and taught by its ghostly residents, the boy eventually has to face one of the terrors of the real world. It's surprising and magical and enchantingly different than most middle grade books out there.

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The Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2008
Ages/Themes: Middle Grade Books, Newbery Winners, Newbery Books Worth Reading