Why does Stanley’s juvenile detention center in the Texas desert require each boy to dig a 5-foot hole every day? An inventive narrative puzzle filled with twists and turns.
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 Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. 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. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment--and redemption.
故事主角是一位被怀疑偷了东西的少年--斯坦利·叶那茨四世(Stanley Yelnats IV)。仿佛宿命一般，叶那茨家几代一直都很倒楣。因此，斯坦利因为审判不公而被判偷窃罪就一点也不令人意外了。幸运又或不幸的是，他还有一次选择服刑地点的机会，可以转往德州绿湖营进行美国式的"劳动改造"。