Remington Jaques

Remington Jaques

       West Des Moines, IA

Dear Louis Sachar:

I can't pick up a shovel anymore without thinking about Holes. Page after page, I felt not only that I was at Camp Green Lake, but I felt like I was Stanley. When Stanley was pushed around, my stomach heaved and ached like I had food poisoning. When Stanley was excited, my heart raced like an Olympic sprinter before a race. All of his feelings and worries channeled into me, because everyday to me felt like what Stanley went through, from fights with the Warden to no water from Mr. Sir. I felt a bond between Stanley and me, because Stanley was so easy to relate to.

Like Stanley, I have spent most of my life being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and always spending hours explaining what looks like a really bad situation to someone who can change my life for the better or worse. It could be a teacher deciding on an all-important grade or even an angry parent deciding the fate of my social life. Whoever said that the truth always sets you free, lied, because every single time, no matter how much I try, the truth sounds crazier than fiction the moment it leaves my mouth.

Wrong place. Wrong time. I take the blame. For example, my friend is cheating on homework in study hall, and I happen to be sitting next to him, so somehow I'm the one who gets blamed for it. My half-brother knocks over my mom's vase and she doesn't notice that it's broken until he goes back to college, and because I'm the one kid who happens to be home when she realizes, I get the blame again.

This book taught showed me that I'm not the only one who feels like I always draw the short stick. When I'm down, it's always nice to blame your problems on something too. I learned that from Stanley. I may not have a no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, but I have other possibilities. I'm always careful that I don't point the finger at another person, though. No matter how bad it is, it can always be worse, and someone in the world is having a harder time than I am.

You also gave me a great piece of advice that can come in handy; no matter how horrible I might feel- I should build others up-not tear them down. Just because I feel bad, doesn't mean that other people should too.

With Holes, I felt like I learned something new with every word I read. Although I feel in the wrong place at the wrong time, I've made my mistakes before, just like everyone else. My parents push me to the best of my abilities, so when I did make mistakes, it was hard to get up and keep going. Before I read your book, when trouble found me, it was a glass-half-empty deal: I looked at the bad that came from my actions, how disappointed people around me might be, and how drastically I affected the way that people look at me. You taught me to look at the bright side of things and to see what good can come out of my actions (though I try not to be the cause of bad things at all). No problem is ever bad enough that it's a ditch (or hole) to die in.

Holes taught me to take my hits, get back up, and just keep 'digging my hole'. I know that I'll remember the lessons I've learned from your book for the rest of my life.

Remington Jaques