And so begins a collection of misadventures as Jack helps Mrs. Our adventures are seemingly going to be bleak, as Jack is only permitted to leave the house to visit his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Unfortunately, Jack immediately gets grounded for the entire summer. Our story begins in 1962 Norvelt just as school is ending and Jack Gantos is about to begin the summer he has long awaited. So moved by her visit and support, the town was named after her: EleaNOR RooseVELT. She was personally invested in this program as she thought it would help prevent similar disasters in the future. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited in 1937 as the first homesteaders were arriving. This planned, cooperative town gave families the opportunity to become economically independent by working the land and bartering for goods and services. Norvelt, PA is a real town developed as part of the 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) which allotted money for the creation of homestead communities for dislocated industrial workers. “Don’t ever forget your history,” she sang, “or any wicked soul can lie to you and get away with it.” While I can respect this novel, and I even understand why it won, it’s definitely not my cup of tea. I adored moments of this story, but overall I couldn’t connect to the characters or the themes. As the 2012 Newbery Medal recipient, I don’t know what I expected– but it sure wasn’t this. This semi-autobiographical novel is billed as one which melds the “entirely true” and the “wildly fictional”. and possibly murder.Įndlessly 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. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched 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. 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.īut plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore-typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his Utopian town. 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!

Dead end in norvelt series