Dead End in Norvelt is an autobiographical novel by Jack Gantos published in 2011. The novel follows Jack's life one summer while living in his hometown of Norvelt, Pennsylvania. After firing his father's sniper rifle, Jack is grounded, allowed to leave the house only to help Miss Volker write a newspaper column and obituaries. The novel follows the life of the town and a murder mystery that Jack and Volker unravel, promoting values of literacy, community and history.
In the book Dead End In Norvelt , people use power to control others. The Newbery Medal judges, who are American children's librarians, cited the importance of history and reading. The Guardian Prize judges, who are British children's novelists, cited "self-sufficiency, community, and neighbourliness".
Children's writer Josh Lacey, one British reviewer of Dead End , called it "defiantly political"; one of its messages is "don't forget the narratives of American life that have been neglected or deliberately buried by the dominant culture." "[T]he real hero of the novel isn't Jack himself, but his home town and its values. Norvelt was a New Deal town built by the US government to house poor families and named after Eleanor Roosevelt, described by Miss Volker as 'the greatest American woman who has ever lived'."
Already have an account? Log In Now