Dead End in Norvelt (Norvelt Series)

Dead End in Norvelt (Norvelt Series)

By Jack Gantos

38 ratings 49 reviews 52 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 4 - 8Grades 10 - 8Y5.773597

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.

Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN-13: 9781250010230
ISBN-10: 1250010233
Published on 5/7/2013
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 384

Book Reviews (46)

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SUPER BOOK! I love it! I read this for book club. I read some really good books with my book club.

Really good book.

When his fighting parents ground him and send him to help his neighbor write obituaries for town founders, Jack Gantos learns plenty about the odds and ends of peoples lives.

This book is about a kid whose Mom rents him out to the neighbor next door so he can help type obituaries of the founders of his town. This leads him on a big journey.

The beginning of this book is very unusual; Jack gets grounded for accidentally shooting a gun that he didn't know was loaded. I will definitely keep reading, as I think the story will be very interesting and I can't wait to see what comes next.

i luv this book. No wonder it won the Newberry award

This book is about a boy named Jack Gantos, he is really excited for his vacation when his parents "ground him". Then, they give him a very unusual job, being, an obituary typist. Typing all the obituarys about people in his little town. Follow Jack in this mysterious, shocking and funny (sort of) adventure to DEAD END IN NORVELT.

I read this book awhile ago but I would really like to read it again because I don't remember much about it, apart from the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the unique cover, and the plot sounds like something I would definitely enjoy!

Before reading this book I was a little skeptical, but it turned out to be an amazing book. I read it with my class, because the teacher assigned it to us and couldn't put it down. Though it isn't entirely true story, the author, Jack Gantos, used his name for the main character and some characters are based off real people. Jack, a kid who has grown up in Norvelt his whole life, and when nervous gets bloody noses, is just starting summer vacation. But when he does some things that upsets his mother and one final act to set her off, he finds himself spending his time with Miss Volker, the old woman nearby, and the rest grounded in his house. Miss Volker has been it Norvelt her whole life and knows everyone there so she's in charge off the obituaries for the local paper. But whats starts as a normal summer job (against Jack's will) , turns into a mystery as the old ladies of Norvelt start dropping dead and can only take Miss Volker and Jack to get to the bottom of. It is a very fun book that will be making you beg for the second, just like it did to me, but luckily it will be coming out sooooon!!!!!!!

I absolutely positively loved this book. it was so much fun it had all the right things . it is a great read for summer I read it in 4 days.

I thought this book was okay. Although it had a good plot, I'm not very into historical-fiction. But if you like historical-fiction, then you will love this book! It is funny and entertaining, as Jack Gantos goes on many adventures with his old lady next-door neighbor and solves many mysteries in their small-town.

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