Review for "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Gantos, Jack. Dead End in Norvelt. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011.  ISBN 9780374379933 

PLOT SUMMARY 

Jack lives with his mom and dad in Norvelt, Pennslyvania, a town that was specifically developed by Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s to help the poor live with dignity during the Great Depression. The year is now 1962, and the town has changed a lot since its founding. Most of the original residents are dead or dying and not many people remember the town when it was thriving. 

Jack find himself "grounded for life" or for the summer when he disobeys his mom in order to please his dad. He is only really allowed to leave the house to visit Miss. Volker, an elderly woman who serves as the town's coroner and writes historically embellished obituaries for the newspaper. Jack spends the summer typing the obituaries for the severely arthritic woman and driving her around town to examine dead bodies. 

As the summer progresses, the number of deaths increases at an unusually fast rate...and most of the dead are members of the original Norvelt community in the 1930s. This is alarming to Jack, and is the beginning of an adventure to find out what or who is killing off the community's elderly residents.  

CRITICAL ANALYSIS 

Jack Gantos provides an authentic story set during the Cold War in a New Deal community that is rapidly declining and struggling economically. The characters are very easy to relate to. For example, the main character, Jack, is stuck in a feud between his parents where he is the only one that is losing. He is an average twelve-year-old kid who is smart, curious, loves history, and doesn't always think before he acts. Jack has a fear of death, and working around dead people makes him anxious and causes him to have nosebleeds. Jack's character is not perfect by any means, but he is someone that just about any typical preteen boy can empathize with. The plot of the story deals a lot with war and death, and Gantos presents details about these sensitive accurately and appropriately for middle grade readers.  

There are many themes that are carried throughout the book. One of the big themes is death. From death caused by hunting animals, to the elderly dying, to deaths caused by war, this theme is constant throughout the book and is something that causes Jack great anxiety. Overall, the book helps us to understand that death is necessary and that a healthy fear of death is good as long as it does not consume a person's life entirely. 

Gantos does a great job writing a story about a preteen boy in a style that is appropriate to be read by preteen boys. The story is written in mostly short paragraphs that are fast-paced. His sentences and language are not overly complicated and even though he uses a lot of figurative language, he does not get into complicated, extended metaphors.  

REVIEW EXCERPT(S) 

Newbery Medal 2012 

Kirkus Starred Review 2011 

Horn Book Magazine Starred Review 2011 

From School Library Journal 2011: “A fast-paced and witty read.” 

From Booklist 2011: “Those with a nose for history will be especially pleased." 

CONNECTIONS 

Gather other Newbery Award winning books to read such as: 

Holes by Louis Sachar ISBN: 978-0440414803 

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool ISBN: 978-0375858291 

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen ISBN: 978-1416936473 

Check out the sequel to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: 

From Norvelt to Nowhere.  ISBN 978-1250062789 

Divide students into groups and have each group develop a script and perform a one-act play from their favorite chapter of the book. 

Have students choose a date in July or August and research historical events that happened on that day. Then, have students write an article for the "This Day in History" column that Jack loves to read in the Norvelt News.