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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I think the story is a autobiography so far.

When Jack is grounded he is forced to help his neighbor, an old and unusual woman, who is the person who writes the newspaper. But when some suspicious activity sprouts in their town that involve motorcycle gangs and an odd man on a trike, he goes on many exciting adventures.

Zotitots Zotitots

I really liked the book, it was really interesting, and I loved the setting. I like the dad's point of view as well, it is really interesting to see from another person's viewpoint.

booty booty

awesome

This book is interesting and it has a great point of view of this kid and this book is good for ages from 8 - 12. This book talks about this kid getting grounded because he did a serious thing that his parents told him not to do. And he tries to do everything and past this grounded days. A lot of people can relate to this situation even if you never got grounded. But just imagine that you couldn't do anything for a long time.

kcuriel kcuriel

15 The book that I am reading is dead end and I like this book because it is funny and interesting what I am reading is that that the main character jack shot his dads gun when when he came back he he told jack to mow his moms corn but he remember that his mom told him if he did it she would tell his dad that he fired the gun and he would be in big trouble but his dad found out because his mom was calling him and she said if you don’t come out he would tell his dad he fired the gun and his dad was with him so that’s how his dad found out and that’s what I read and I recommend this book ages 10 and up

This book is so cool the author came to my school to it was such a good experience

I recommend this book because it has a good sense of humor.It is very interesting because this boy is friends with an old lady and she cooks her hands in boiling water in wax to make her hands work because she has arthritis.I recommend the sequal too!

I met the author at my school!!!

nice I think I am going to have to read it over the summer

This book is wonderful! Loved it, loved it, loved it!

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