Dead End in Norvelt (2012 Newberry Medal Winner)

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (2012)

Jack Gantos has a big problem standing in the way of his summer vacation plans-his mother.

It's 1964 and Jack lives in a small community called Norvelt. It was established by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in an attempt to help impoverished people develop a new home and community where they could work together. Only a handful of the original Norvelters, as they are called, are still alive and living in town.

In the opening scenes of the books we find Jack using a pair of binoculars this father had claimed during the World War II from an abandoned Japanese bunker. Jack also has his father's Japanese rifle. Jack is using the binoculars to watch an war film at the drive-in miles away. Since it is just a movie miles away and the rifle isn't loaded, Jack pretends to shoot the enemy soldiers. The only problem is that the gun is actually loaded and goes off.

Several things happen at that point. First Jack's nose starts to bleed like a fountain, which happens everything something disturbing happens. Next his mother runs out and starts shouting at him. Next he wonders what happened with the bullet. Maybe it made it all the way to the drive-in or accidentally his one of his neighbors.

With a promise not to tell his father, Jack is grounded for the rest of the summer. This keeps him from hanging out with friends and playing with the player deficient little league team. The only thing that Jack will be allowed to do is help old Miss Volker, one of the few remaning original Norvelters, and the woman that Mrs. Roosevelt entrusted with keeping Norvelt healthy, and keeping track of all the original Norvelters. It is her duty to declare deaths, and write obituaries. Unfortunately, her hands are so arthritic that even with a hot-wax bath, she can hardly write anything. Jack is taken as her secretary.

There are lots of mysterious deaths in the community as original Norvelters die at a frightening rate. There is also the mysterious death of a Hells Angel that bought one of the old houses. This leads to some arson attempts by his biking brothers.

Many of the characters face feelings of being trapped in Norvelt. Jack's father wants to move to a more prosperous area. Miss Volker feels trapped while she waits for the rest of the Norvelters to die. Jack feels trapped by being grounded.

Will any of these characters manage to escape a dead end in Norvelt?