Dead End in Norvelt
Dead End in Norvelt is an autobiographical novel by the American author Jack Gantos, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 2011. It features a boy named Jack Gantos and is based in the author's hometown, Norvelt, Pennsylvania. According to one reviewer, the "real hero" is "his home town and its values", a "defiantly political" message.
First edition | |
| Author | Jack Gantos |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's historical novel, autobiographical novel, mystery, comedy, political economy |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Publication date | September 13, 2011 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 341 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0-374-37993-3 |
| OCLC | 692290969 |
| LC Class | PZ7.G15334 Dd 2011 |
| Followed by | From Norvelt to Nowhere |
The American Library Association awarded Gantos and Dead End the 2012 Newbery Medal, honoring the book as the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". It also won the annual Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. In Britain, where it was published by the Transworld Publishers imprint Corgi Books, it was one of eight books on the longlist for the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
Newbery medal judges called the book "achingly funny" and one British reviewer called it "rib-splitting".