Dead End in Norvelt

Description

A gripping, hilarious and wildly imaginative tale about one of the strangest towns you'll ever visit. Winner of the Newbery Medal 2012. Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2013 Jack's summer has hit a dead end . . . After being 'grounded for life', Jack is facing a summer of doing nothing. But who's got time to die of boredom when there are so many more interesting ways to die in this town? He might crash in his dad's homemade plane, or catch the disease that makes you dance yourself to death, or fall foul of the motorcycle gang that wants to burn the town to the ground. Old people seem to be dying faster than Miss Volker can write their obituaries, and Jack is starting to worry that it might not just be the rats that are eating the rat poison . . . Dead End in Norvelt is Jack Gantos's hilarious blend of the entirely true and the wildly fictional, from one of the most darkly amusing imaginations writing today.

Jack Gantos was born in Norvelt, Pennsylvania, and has spent time living in Barbados and South Florida. He has written books for readers of all ages, including the acclaimed Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and its sequels, the teenage novel Desire Lines, and the youthful memoire Hole in My Life. His is also the writer of Dead End in Norvelt and From Norvelt to Nowhere, a pair of semi-autobiographical novels about the importance of history and reading, the first of which won the prestigious Newbery Medal in 2012. He lives with his wife and daughter in Boston, Massachusetts.

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 -- Dave Barry 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 * Publishers Weekly * Gantos, as always, delivers bushels of food for thought and plenty of outright guffaws * Booklist * A fast-paced and witty read * School Library Journal *