Sunday, September 2, 2012

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos


This month I decided to read present day award-winning children’s literature. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos was published in 2011 and won the Newbery Medal in 2012.

Dead End in Norvelt is a unique mid-grade novel. The author, Jack Gantos, is the main character! After being grounded for the entire summer, Jack must help his elderly neighbor write obituaries. This is the closest thing to fun he is allowed to do. Jack doesn’t mind the work and even starts to appreciate the feistiness of his elderly neighbor. When old ladies around Norvelt start dropping dead daily, Jack begins to wonder if the ladies are being murdered. In the end, he finds out that they were being poisoned, but oddly enough, the motive was love. 

Dead End in Norvelt is humorous and entertaining from beginning to end. I recommend this book to 5th graders.

List of Recommended Books by Grade:

2nd grade –
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Miss Holly Is Too Jolly, by Dan Gutman
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

3rd grade –
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

4th grade –
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The Golly Whopper Games by Jody Feldman

5th grade –
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Benjamin Pratt & The Keeper of the School by Andrew Clements
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

6th grade –
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Dewey, by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. 

7th grade and up –
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Pendragon Book One: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Seventeen Second Miracle, by Jason F. Wright

No comments:

Post a Comment