You've got a small town with a lady who soaks her hands in boiling wax, the Hells Angels, a guy who keeps a small plane in his garage, and a kid who shoots bullets at the Drive In screen. Welcome to Norvelt.
Jack Gantos' laugh out loud semi-audiobiographical book follows the adventures of the eponymous twelve year old Jack during the summer of 1962. Jack has gotten himself in trouble again -- this time for the Drive In shooting incident, amongst other mischief. His punishment is to be loaned out as a transcriber by his mother to Miss Volker, the local obituary writer. Things start to get interesting.
Norvelt is a town in decline and getting smaller by the minute. Old people seem to be dropping like flies and there seems to be something suspicious about the way that it is happening. Jack tries to figure out what is going on while dealing with his parents, who are in a battle over whether to leave Norvelt.
The characters are what makes the book shine. Jack's "it seemed like a good idea at the time" antics get him into constant trouble, which is further complicated by his inclination to have violent nose bleeds every time he is the least bit excited. Miss Volker is a stubborn old lady with a mind of her own who is fighting off the advances of a suitor who has been waiting 50 years for her attentions. She sees no problem having Jack not only assist her in her obituary duties but also drive her around town in her Plymouth Valiant as she tracks down the most recently deceased citizen of Norvelt. Jack's mom is dedicated to the ideals of Norvelt, as established by Eleanor Roosevelt, to give "hardworking poor people a helping hand."(p. 54), even as most of the people around her abandon those ideals. Finally, his father, frustrated by the same "do nothing day here over and over" (p.55), has decided to build a runway in their backyard by mowing down his wife's prized corn.
Dead End in Norvelt echos many of the same characteristics as Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now. The small town setting full of interesting characters, a boy who is simultaneously dealing with family and outside issues, growing up into an independent person and the historical context - all told with humor - will ring as familiar to readers of Schmidt's work.
This is a wonderful book for students from 4th to 7th grade. The humor will appeal to all readers, especially reluctant boys. This is also a perfect book to suggest to lovers of The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now.
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