Holes By Louis Sachar

Holes follows Stanley Yelnats, a boy whose family has been plagued by bad luck for generations. After being wrongly convicted, Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention centre where the boys are forced to dig five-foot-wide, five-foot-deep holes every day.

The warden claims the digging builds character, but Stanley soon realises the boys are actually searching for something buried beneath the dried-up lake. As Stanley befriends Zero and learns about the history of the camp, old curses, family secrets and the story of outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow begin to connect.