Holes

Stanley Yelnats has always blamed bad luck on a family curse, one that goes back to his great-great-grandfather, a man accused of stealing a pig and failing to keep a promise. When Stanley is wrongly convicted of a theft he did not commit, the curse seems to have struck again. A judge gives him a choice between jail and Camp Green Lake, and he ends up at a juvenile detention camp in the middle of a scorching Texas desert.

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake, only dust, heat and rows of holes. Every day the boys must dig one, exactly five feet wide and five feet deep, and the camp claims this will build their character. Stanley soon suspects the real reason is different. The warden seems to be searching for something, and the boys are doing the digging for her.

As Stanley works out what might be buried beneath a lakebed that dried up long ago, the story pulls together threads from the past and the present. It is a darkly funny, cleverly built tale about crime, punishment, friendship and the chance to put things right, and its mystery keeps readers turning pages until the last piece falls into place.

Louis Sachar's novel won both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award. This edition includes new material from the author.