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:

2^nd grade –

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Miss Holly Is Too Jolly, by Dan Gutman

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

3^rd 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

4^th 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

5^th 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

6^th 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. 

7^th 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