Dead End in Norvelt

"The reason you remind yourself of the stupid stuff you've done in the past is so you don't do it again." - pp. 340   

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux Copyright 2011  

 

Strong male protagonist, character driven, relatable to readers, based in history, dark humor  

 Awards: 

• 2012 Newbery Medal Recipient  

• Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction 

 

Summary:  

Two time Newbury Medal recipient Jack Gantos strikes gold in his newest novel, Dead End in Norvelt, a story about a twelve year old boy, also named Jack Gantos who lives in Norvelt, a New Deal town founded by Eleanor Roosevelt (hence Nor-Velt), that is experiencing a lot of changes during the Red Scare. Set in 1962, Jack is grounded for the summer when he accidentally shoots his father's war rifle in the house! The only place that Jack is allowed to go when he is not in his room is to old Miss Volker's house to help her to type the town obituaries for the local paper. Jack's summer spirals out of control as he and Miss Volker experience Hell's Angels, a man on a tricycle, driving underage, bloody noses, and even murder! In the end, Jack's grounding helped him to learn a very important lesson: history is important. It reminds people of their past mistakes, and teaches them how to react in the future.   

    

Reading Level: Lexile Framework 920L, Grade 6.4  

Suggested Delivery: Independent read, whole class instruction

Description: Historical-fiction, humor    

Key Vocabulary (by page number):  swain (22), spastic (23), scribe (28), abscond (30), "dressing" a deer (75), Guadalcanal Diary (87), cauterize (93), scythe (107), cadaver (105), topical (131)

Teaching Suggestions:

1. Talk with students about self-insertion, a method that Jack Gantos uses in his novel when he names his character "Jack Gantos." Ask students what effect this gives to a novel. How much of the story do students think is true, and how much is made up?
2. Have students compare obituaries from local newspapers to the obituaries written in Dead End in Norvelt. Compare and contrast the two. What kind of obituary do students prefer and why?
3. Reread sections of the Landmark history texts that Jack reads in his room (example: pp. 15-16). What is in common with the explorers that Jack talks about? Have students talk about the mistakes that the explorers made, such as Pizarro destroying the Inca population for gold. What can students learn from these mistakes? 

Comprehension Strategies

Dead End in Norvelt can be used to teach more current American history, like what happened after WWII, what communism is, and why Americans were afraid of communism and the Russians. Here are some ways to help students comprehend the history behind the novel.

Pre-Reading- Before reading, have students work in groups to research New Deal towns, especially Norvelt. Research can be combined in a whole class discussion where the teacher creates one large definition on a poster for students to refer to while reading the novel.

During Reading- Jack Gantos doesn't explicitly say that his story takes place in the past until pp. 151, but it becomes clear as early as page 35 that this story is from an earlier time (Jack is using a typewriter and doesn't know how to type). Ask students when they think this story takes place and why. Ask them to provide examples from the text that make them think so. Have students create a chart that displays these examples so that they can add to it as they read.

Post-Reading- Look back at the arguments/disagreements between Jack's parents. What are their opinions about the American dream, and what do they disagree on? Small groups can analyze different passages such as on pages 55, 96, and 185. The teacher will make a large Venn Diagram that displays the findings of all groups. For one step further, the teacher can compare Mr. and Mrs. Gantos to people who are afraid of communists and those who are not respectively.

Writing Activity: Many parts of Jack Gantos' novels are taken from his childhood journals. Each day that the book is being taught, students can write their own journal entries. Once the novel is complete, students can pick one of these journal entries to turn into a short story. Students will be required to find a way to relate this journal entry to a moment in history on this day when writing their story. For example, if I wrote my journal entry today about going on a shopping spree, I could relate it to the first patent of jeans by Levi Strauss which happened today in 1873. 

Electronic Resources:

Jack Gantos

This Day in History
Jack's favorite part of the newspaper is the "This Day in History" section, which lists important events that happened in history that day. As they journal, students can use this resource to find what happened in history the date of their entry. 

 

Jack Gantos Talks About Journaling

In this video from Reading Rockets, Gantos talks about how writing journals as a child have contributed to his stories today (until 3:48), and how he started journaling in the first place. Students will be able to relate to Gantos, who speaks directly to his young readers, even including an anecdote about how he stole his sister's diary!

Gantos, J. (2011). Dead end in Norvelt. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.