Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
“School was finally out and I was standing on a picnic table in our backyard getting ready for a great summer when my mother walked up to me and ruined it.” -- Jack Gantos
It is the summer of 1962 and Jack’s mom informs him that he has been enlisted to help out their old neighbor, Miss Volker, to write obituaries for the local paper. She will dictate the stories about the residents who have passed on and Jack will prepare them for print.
But that was the least of his problems. “Oh sweet cheeze-us!” Jack hadn’t known that the rifle was loaded when he aimed and fired at the enemy on the drive-in movie screen, which led to his being grounded for the summer.
And then there was the small problem of his “sensitive” nose from which blood would come spewing out of whenever Jack got a little excited
Oh, and did I mention that someone might be killing off all the original little old ladies of Norvelt?
You’ll get to know the locals as you join Jack on his adventures, some of which include:
-trying to silently pass gas to save the life of a deer
-checking on the elderly to see if it is too soon to write an obituary…while dressed as the Grimm Reaper
-sneaking out of the house to go on Girl Scout fire patrol with his best friend, Bunny
This pleasant story is part adventure, part historical fiction, part murder mystery and full of quirky characters.
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