Winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award, this 1998 book has been made into a 2003 movie of the same title.

    Stanley Yelnats is under a curse*. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center*, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

    It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden* is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive* and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment, and redemption*.

    It’s a strange story, but compelling and lovely too. Author Louis Sachar uses poker-faced understatement to create a bizarre but believable landscape. The book is not lengthy*. Many of the chapters are somewhat short and seems to be a fairly easy read. There is a lot of interesting coincidences* that occur within the story in order to facilitate the story line. A morality story, there are lessons in bullying*, injustice*, loyalty, selflessness and perseverance*.

    Both English and Chinese versions of the book are available at online bookstores like jd.com.

    (SD-Agencies)