I read this book when I was a kid about a group of kids who were on
these stairs that seemed to go on forever. My memory of the details is
vague, but i think they were trying to figure out how to reach the
end. When they did certain things, they got rewarded (with food?,
etc.), so they tried to repeat patterns that caused certain results.
Can you tell me the name of the book???

I'm certain that you're remembering "House of Stairs," by William Sleator.

Here are several descriptions of the book:

"One by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought to a strange
building. It is not a prison, not a hospital; it has no walls, no
ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading
nowhere - except back to a strange red machine. The five must learn to
love the machine and let it rule their lives. But will they let it
kill their souls?"

Amazon: House of Stairs
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140345809

"House of Stairs: Five sixteen-year-old orphans of widely varying
personality characteristics are involuntarily placed in a house of
endless stairs as subjects for a psychological experiment on
conditioned human response."

Laura Lemay Blog: questions asked... (and problems solved)
http://blog.lauralemay.com/archives/000346.html

"House of Stairs, by William Sleator
Five very different teenagers wake up in a place that is nothing but
interlocking flights of stairs, where a machine gives them food
pellets in a puzzling response pattern. How will they react to the
situation, and to each other, when they find out that cruelty is what
the machine rewards?"

Daniel Boone Regional Library: Best Young Adult Fantasy Novels
http://www.dbrl.org/readers/booklists/pdf/25_Best_YA_fantasy.pdf

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "house of stairs" sleator
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22house+of+stairs%22+sleator

I hope this is the correct book. If it is not, or if anything is
unclear or incomplete, please request clarification; I'll be glad to
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

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Request for Answer Clarification by bigsticks-ga on 27 Sep 2005 10:14 PDT

that's it! thanks! you must have remembered it, too!

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 27 Sep 2005 10:40 PDT

I'm glad to have been able to help you find your book! "House of
Stairs" is, in my opinion, one of the best science fiction books ever
written for young people.

If you're interested in purchasing a copy, these links may be helpful:

Price Comparison, House of Stairs (paperback)
http://www.addall.com/New/BestSeller.cgi?isbn=0140345809&dispCurr=USD

Price Comparison, House of Stairs (hardback)
http://www.addall.com/New/BestSeller.cgi?isbn=084467186x&dispCurr=USD

~pinkfreud