Raschka's wordless picture book, told through watercolor, ink and gouache, recounts the saga of a white and gray terrier whose beloved red ball is stolen by a bigger, brown poodle. I love history, and I love humor, so I thought history could use a little humor." "And at the end of my eulogy, a lot of people came up to me and said they didn't know about the history of Norvelt. "I talked about the spirit of people helping people, and how people really banded together," Gantos said during a telephone interview from his home in Boston. Gantos said he thought of "Dead End" after giving a eulogy for his aunt that looked back on Norvelt's special past. He spent part of his childhood in Norvelt and shares his character's sensitive nose. The author is more than a little like the Jack Gantos of his book. But he is restored by the stories he learns about his hometown, Norvelt, a planned community in Pennsylvania founded during the Great Depression. In the end, the history seemed to be outweighing the much more interesting story about a dying town and Jack Gantos trying to find his place in it.Gantos' novel follows the humorous adventures of a boy named Jack Gantos, grounded "for life" by his parents and prone to the most gushing nosebleeds. Constant historical delving works well as part of Miss Volker’s obituaries (every death is linked to that day in history), but less successfully as part of Jack’s musings about life. Jack’s peer relationships are sketchier, and tangential to the story. Miss Volker is a charming character, and it’s easy to see why Jack grows to like her.
His mother grew up in Norvelt and is holding on to its communal past, while his father is carting unused Norvelt houses to another thriving town. His relationship with his parents is particularly well drawn. Not surprisingly, Jack is funny and has a unique perspective.
Throw in a sinister undertaker, a Hell’s Angel gang who curses the town, and a rash of mysterious deaths, and the summer becomes unexpectedly exciting for Jack (which is a problem, because his nose will gush blood at the least provocation).ĭead End in Norvelt can be very funny. Jack discovers history through reading a collection of discarded library books and keeping company with Miss Volker. Jack, age 13, is looking forward to a summer of baseball and adventure when he is grounded and assigned to work with the original Norvelter, Miss Volker, town coroner, historian, and chief obituary writer.
The original families are dying and younger townspeople have left. In the past 30 years, the town has declined. Norvelt was founded in 1934 as a low-income community housing project. Jack Gantos is both author and hero in this novel set in 1962 in the town of Norvelt (named after its patron, Eleanor Roosevelt).
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