** 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.
Description:
2012 Newbery Award Winner