Showing Holes by Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnets' family has a history of bad luck, so he isn't too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a boy's juvenile detention centre. At Camp Green Lake the boys must dig a hole a day, five feet deep, five feet across, in the dried up lake bed. The Warden claims the labour is character building, but it is a lie. Stanley must dig up the truth.