Louis Sachar

Holes

Louis Sachar

• 2001 YRCA-Junior winner
• 1999 Horn Book-fiction winner
• 1999 Newbery winner
• 1998 NBA–Youth winner
• 1998 LATimes–Young Adult finalist
• Score: 46.51

A darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment, by the author of There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom.

Stanley Yelnats’s family has a history of bad luck, so he isn’t too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a boys’ juvenile detention center, Camp Green Lake. There is no lake—it has been dry for over a hundred years—and it’s hardly a camp. As punishment, the boys must each dig a hole a day, five feet deep, five feet across, in the hard earth of the dried-up lake bed. The warden claims that this pointless labor builds character, but she…

Small Steps

Louis Sachar

• 1996 Golden Kite-nonfiction winner
• 2009 YRCA-Intermediate nominee
• Score: 14.46

Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is home in Austin, Texas, trying to turn his life around. But it’s hard when you have a record, and everyone expects the worst from you. The only person who believes in him is Ginny, his 10-year old disabled neighbor. Together, they are learning to take small steps. And he seems to be on the right path, until X-Ray, a buddy from Camp Green Lake, comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme. This leads to a chance encounter with teen pop sensation, Kaira DeLeon, and suddenly his life spins out of control, with only one thing for certain. He’ll never be the same again.

Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

Louis Sachar

• 1998 YRCA-Junior winner
• Score: 10.48

Welcome back to Wayside School! After closing for 242 days to get rid of the cows (don’t ask), everyone’s favorite thirty-story school is finally back in session.

But all is not well at the school with no nineteenth floor. Mrs. Jewls, the best teacher at Wayside, is having a baby, and that can mean only one thing—substitute teachers.

First comes Mr. Gorf. Was he married to the terrible Mrs. Gorf? And why does he have three nostrils? The kids won’t tell you. They’re not talking.

Then there’s Mrs. Drazil. She never forgets a missed homework assignment,…

There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom

Louis Sachar

• 1990 YRCA-Junior winner
• Score: 10.4

Bradley Chalkers IS the oldest kid in the fifth grade. He tells enormous lies. He picks fights with girls. No one likes him—except Carla, the new school counselor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive and generous, and knows that Bradley could change, if only he weren’t afraid to try. But when you feel like the most-hated kid in the whole school, believing in yourself can be the hardest thing in the world….