A Hole in the World

After telling a lie that grew in significance, 15-year-old Paul is sent to spend the summer with some distant relatives working on a farm - not the way the Richmond, Va., boy had planned his summer. Though irate about it, Paul is polite to everyone on the farm and does his best, quickly growing to actually enjoy the work and the people - especially Rebecca, the teen daughter of one of the other farm hands. The farm seems is haunted (figuratively or literally?) by an employee who had made a great impression on everyone there, but then took his own life a year before. Everyone on the farm is having difficulty moving past Hennley's death, and the man's dog, Einstein, is a constant reminder to them of the friend they lost.
I never grew show more particularly attached to any of the characters in this book. They were all appealing enough, but I just didn't care deeply what happened to any of them. I never quite accepted Paul's growing obsession with Hennley. That was not convincing. A good book, but not a great one. show less

The setting is on a farm, and the main character is a kid named Paul. Paul lives with his relatives because he has been bad and lied to his parents. When Paul gets to the farm, he finds out his friend has hung himself. Paul is now determined to find out why this happened. There is something else though, a ghost that lurks near by.

A great story about a boy and his dog!