Dead End in Norvelt: Norvelt Series Series, Book 1
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Jack Gantos. (2011). Dead End in Norvelt: Norvelt Series Series, Book 1. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).

Jack Gantos. 2011. Dead End in Norvelt: Norvelt Series Series, Book 1. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).

Jack Gantos, Dead End in Norvelt: Norvelt Series Series, Book 1. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2011.

Jack Gantos. Dead End in Norvelt: Norvelt Series Series, Book 1. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2011.

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1. • value: Newbery Medal
2. • value: 1960s
3. • value: sixties
4. • value: Pennsylvania
5. • value: kids books
6. • value: books for young children
7. • value: children stories
8. • value: Funny Kids Books
9. • value: middle grade fiction
10. • value: funny childrens books
11. • value: newbery award winning author
12. • value: books children
13. • value: kid books
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15. • value: young childrens books
16. • value: newberry award books
17. • value: chapter books for readers age 9 12
18. • value: funny for kids
19. • value: historical fiction books for kids
20. • value: newberry award winners
21. • value: norvelt series

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1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Gantos, Jack
   • bioText: Jack Gantos has written books for people of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and adults. His works include Hole in My Life, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert Honors, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor book. Jack was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and when he was seven, his family moved to Barbados. He attended British schools, where there was much emphasis on reading and writing, and teachers made learning a lot of fun. When the family moved to south Florida, he found his new classmates uninterested in their studies, and his teachers spent most of their time disciplining students. Jack retreated to an abandoned bookmobile (three flat tires and empty of books) parked out behind the sandy ball field, and read for most of the day. The seeds for Jack's writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister's diary and decided he could write better than she could. He begged his mother for a diary and began to collect anecdotes he overheard at school, mostly from standing outside the teachers' lounge and listening to their lunchtime conversations. Later, he incorporated many of these anecdotes into stories. While in college, he and an illustrator friend, Nicole Rubel, began working on picture books. After a series of well-deserved rejections, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph, in 1976. It was a success and the beginning of Jack's career as a professional writer. Jack continued to write children's books and began to teach courses in children's book writing and children's literature. He developed the master's degree program in children's book writing at Emerson College and the Vermont College M.F.A. program for children's book writers. He now devotes his time to writing books and educational speaking. He lives with his family in Boston, Massachusetts.
   • name: Jack Gantos

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title

Dead End in Norvelt

fullDescription

Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction!
Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.
Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.

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1. • value: Grade 4
2. • value: Grade 5

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: Dave Barry
   • content:

     "This is a brilliant book, full of history, mystery, and laughs. It reminded me of my small-town childhood, although my small town was never as delightfully weird as Norvelt."

2. • premium: False
   • source: Publishers Weekly, starred review
   • content: "A bit of autobiography works its way into all of Gantos's work, but he one-ups himself in this wildly entertaining meld of truth and fiction by naming the main character . . . Jackie Gantos."
3. • premium: False
   • source: School Library Journal
   • content: "A fast-paced and witty read."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB)
   • content: "A more quietly (but still absurdly) funny and insightful account of a kid's growth, kin to Gantos's Jack stories, that will stealthily hook even resistant readers into the lure of history."
5. • premium: False
   • source: Shelf Awareness Pro
   • content: "This winning novel, both humorous and heartwarming, takes place during the summer of 1962, when narrator Jack Gantos turns 12 and spends most of his days grounded. Jack's main 'get out of jail free card,' and one of the novel's most charming characters, is Miss Volker. The blossoming of their friendship coincides with the blooming of Jack's character."
6. • premium: False
   • source: The Horn Book, starred review
   • content: "There's more than laugh-out-loud gothic comedy here. This is a richly layered semi-autobiographical tale, an ode to a time and place, to history and the power of reading."
7. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from July 25, 2011
     A bit of autobiography works its way into all of Gantos's work, but he one-ups himself in this wildly entertaining meld of truth and fiction by naming the main character... Jackie Gantos. Like the author, Jackie lives for a time in Norvelt, a real Pennsylvania town created during the Great Depression and based on the socialist idea of community farming. Presumably (hopefully?) the truth mostly ends there, because Jackie's summer of 1962 begins badly: plagued by frequent and explosive nosebleeds, Jackie is assigned to take dictation for the arthritic obituary writer, Miss Volker, and kept alarmingly busy by elderly residents dying in rapid succession. Then the Hells Angels roll in. Gore is a Gantos hallmark but the squeamish are forewarned that Jackie spends much of the book with blood pouring down his face and has a run-in with home cauterization. Gradually, Jackie learns to face death and his fears straight on while absorbing Miss Volker's theories about the importance of knowing history. "The reason you remind yourself of the stupid stuff you've done in the past is so you don't do it again." Memorable in every way. Ages 10–14.

8. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from April 15, 2011
     

     An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named "Jack Gantos."

     The gore is all Jack's, which to his continuing embarrassment "would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames" whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack's feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker's daughter, a band of Hell's Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the "hired hands" that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing. Nearly all of Gantos' work is loosely autobiographical—here a closing album of family and town photographs adds unusual, if wobbly, verisimilitude.

     Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)

     (COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

9. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     September 1, 2011
     

     Gr 5-8-In 1962, Jack accidentally discharges his father's war relic, a Japanese rifle, and is grounded for the summer. When a neighbor's arthritic hands get the best of her, his mother lifts the restriction and volunteers the 12-year-old to be the woman's scribe, writing obituaries for the local newspaper. Business is brisk for Miss Volker, who doubles as town coroner, and Norvelt's elderly females seem to be dropping like flies. Prone to nosebleeds at the least bit of excitement (until Miss Volker cauterizes his nose with old veterinarian equipment), Jack is a hapless and endearing narrator. It is a madcap romp, with the boy at the wheel of Miss Volker's car as they try to figure out if a Hell's Angel motorcyclist has put a curse on the town, or who might have laced Mertie-Jo's Girl Scout cookies with rat poison. The gutsy Miss Volker and her relentless but rebuffed suitor, Mr. Spizz, are comedic characters central to the zany, episodic plot, which contains unsubtle descriptions of mortuary science. Each quirky obituary is infused with a bit of Norvelt's history, providing insightful postwar facts focusing on Eleanor Roosevelt's role in founding the town on principles of sustainable farming and land ownership for the poor. Jack's absorption with history of any kind makes for refreshing asides about John F. Kennedy's rescue of PT-109 during World War II, King Richard II, Francisco Pizarro's conquest of Peru, and more. A fast-paced and witty read.-Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY

     Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

10. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      August 1, 2011
      Grades 5-8 Looks like a bummer of a summer for 11-year-old Jack (with a same-name protagonist, it's tempting to assume that at least some of this novel comes from the author's life). After discharging his father's WWII-souvenir Japanese rifle and cutting down his mom's fledgling cornfield, he gets grounded for the rest of his life or the rest of the summer of 1962, whichever comes first. Jack gets brief reprieves to help an old neighbor write obituaries for the falling-like-flies original residents of Norvelt, a dwindling coal-mining town. Jack makes a tremendously entertaining tour guide and foil for the town's eccentric citizens, and his warmhearted but lightly antagonistic relationship with his folks makes for some memorable one-upmanship. Gantos, as always, deliver bushels of food for thought and plenty of outright guffaws, though the story gets stuck in neutral for much of the midsection. When things pick up again near the end of the summer, surprise twists and even a quick-dissolve murder mystery arrive to pay off patient readers. Those with a nose for history will be especially pleased.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

11. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      Starred review from September 1, 2011
      Who but Jack Gantos would get a summer job typing up obituaries for his arthritic neighbor, the town's unofficial historian; have a best friend who "grew up in a house full of dead people"; and need to nurse a tender nose that sprays blood like "dragon flames"? And since"Death is not a lazy fellow" in 1962 Norvelt, Pennsylvania, Jack's summer job keeps him busy. The elderly citizens of this town founded by Eleanor Roosevelt are dropping like flies, and Jack's obituaries chronicle the history of the community, which Jack says could be a "museum of freaks." Miss Volker cooks her arthritic hands in hot wax, old Mr. Spizz rides through town on a giant tricycle, Bob Fenton looks like "a human corn grub with crusty wire rimmed glasses over his bugged-out snow globe eyes," and Jack's own father is building a bomb shelter and landing strip in the cornfield. But there's more than laugh-out-loud gothic comedy here. This is a richly layered semi-autobiographical tale, an ode to a time and place, to history and the power of reading. And after a summer spent reading Landmark biographies and learning from Miss Volker (a kindred spirit of Richard Peck's Grandma Dowdel), Jack has changed. He realizes he can learn from history; he doesn't have to keep doing "stupid stuff." Readers will see in this story the wellspring of Gantos's earlier characters Joey Pigza and Jack Henry, but readers of Hole in My Life (rev. 5/02) will know that history does have a way of repeating itself, and doing stupid stuff is not just for the young. dean schneider

      (Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

12. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      January 1, 2012
      In 1962 Norvelt, Pennsylvania (a town founded by Eleanor Roosevelt), Jack's summer job keeps him busy. Jack's work--typing up obituaries for his arthritic neighbor--chronicles the history of the community: a "museum of freaks." There's more than laugh-out-loud gothic comedy here. This is a richly layered semi-autobiographical tale, an ode to a time and place, to history and the power of reading.

      (Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

13. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      Starred review from April 15, 2011
      

      An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named "Jack Gantos."

      The gore is all Jack's, which to his continuing embarrassment "would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames" whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack's feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker's daughter, a band of Hell's Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the "hired hands" that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the--justified, as it turns out--attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing. Nearly all of Gantos' work is loosely autobiographical--here a closing album of family and town photographs adds unusual, if wobbly, verisimilitude.

      Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)

      (COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

14. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      Starred review from August 15, 2011
      

      An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named "Jack Gantos."

      The gore is all Jack's, which to his continuing embarrassment "would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames" whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack's feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker's daughter, a band of Hell's Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the "hired hands" that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the--justified, as it turns out--attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.

      Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)

      (COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

popularity

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09/13/2011

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Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction!
Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . ....

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Dead End in Norvelt Norvelt Series Series Book 01

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awards

1. • source: American Library Association
   • value: Newbery Medal
2. • source: Association for Library Service to Children
   • value: Notable Children's Books
3. • source: Young Adult Library Services Association
   • value: Best Fiction for Young Adults

subtitle

Norvelt Series Series, Book 1

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

atos

5.7

bisacCodes

1. • code: YAF018000
   • description: Young Adult Fiction / Family / General
2. • code: YAF024170
   • description: Young Adult Fiction / Historical / United States / 20th Century
3. • code: YAF058150
   • description: Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / New Experience