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Cover of Dead End in Norvelt

Dead End in Norvelt

Contemporary

Published: Print · 2013 | eBook · 2011

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"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 launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a…

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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.

Favedom Gravity: Not Yet Ranked
NotableEmergingEstablishedDistinguishedHighest
Award Winner
2012 Newbery Medal Winner
Newbery Medal
Podcast Episode
Bonus Episode: Conversation with Jack Gantos
Book Club for Kids · 2026-01-14 · Listen ↗
Podcast Episode
Episode 36 - Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Book Club for Kids · 2026-01-07 · Listen ↗
Listen on Apple Podcasts
FormatPublisherYearLanguageTerritory
PrintTurtleback2013-05-07English—
PrintPerfection Learning2013-05-07English—
eBookFarrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)2011-09-13English—

Sources

1
Newbery Medal
Award Winner
2
Book Club for Kids
Bonus Episode: Conversation with Jack Gantos
3
Book Club for Kids
Episode 36 - Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos