Monday, January 23, 2012

2012 Newbery Medal Awarded to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

The 2012 Newbery Medal, awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year, has been given to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos.

Described as being "entirely true and wildly fictional", this book isn't a young adult suspense novel per se … but there is clearly an element of mystery in the narrative. The publisher offers this by way of introduction: "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."

Set during the summer of 1962, a kid named Jack Gantos has his plans for vacation excitement shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents. 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.

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