Rating: ****

Summary: Bad luck runs in Stanley Yelnats's family. So it was no surprise when Stanley was convicted of a crime he did not commit and sent to a juvenile detention center. Camp Green Lake, as it is called, is not green, nor does it have a lake. It's pure desert. As their punishment, they dig holes, five feet wide by five feet long and five feet deep. Stanley feels like he's just been plopped into hell, and he just has to find some way out, not only for himself, but for all the other boys, too.

    Camp Green Lake is like one of those southern chain gang prisons you see in the movies. Hell squared. And yet, a very interesting, subtly funny story comes out of this arid setting. It's one of those books for everyone, no matter what age. I really don't know what else to say, except read it.

Written by: Lava