As further evidence of his family's bad fortune,
which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats
is sent to a hellish boys' juvenile detention center in the Texas
desert. As punishment, the boys here must each dig a hole every day,
five feet deep and five feet across. Ultimately, Stanley "digs up the
truth" -- and through his experience, finds his first real friend, a
treasure, and a new sense of himself. Winner of the 1998 National Book
Award for young people's literature, here is a wildly inventive, darkly
humorous tale of crime and punishment -- and redemption.
