The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli 260 pages

Donna Jo must be one of those people who thrive on a couple hours of sleep. Mother of five chidren and two grandchildren, author of linguistics at Swarthmore, poet, lecturer has spoken on several continents and author of juvenile and young adult books. This is a young adult version of a Sicilian fairytale that also has similarities to Grimm's King Thrushbeard. Don Giovanni, a young wealthy nobleman, makes a foolish wager with the devil after losing his entire fortune in a 1169 tidal wave. He will regain his fortune and soul only if he does not bathe, change clothes, cut his hair for THREE YEARS. (Can you imagine?) The devil cheats to make his stinking body painfully disgusting to people. As he reaches the bottom of survival, he finds strength and redemption.