Random House, Inc. 233 pages, medium print, easy No illustrations The cover design is stylized and brightly colored. The Newbery Medal is on the right edge of the cover near the author's name. Interestingly, the right edge of the cover is approximately an eighth of an inch shorter than the book. Peeking from this edge is a bright orange page illustrated with a sun in the upper right corner and a yellow spotted lizard at the bottom left corner of the page.
White text centered under the orange title and author's name is a story teaser.
This cover gets a big 9 from me. Sachar's book is suitable for both male and female readers. Readers as young as ten or eleven could enjoy Holes . Likewise, readers thirteen or fourteen years old could still find the story relevant and entertaining. This Newbery book is predictably very safe.