My familiarity with Jack Gantos was not from books, but from the documentary Library of an Early Mind (which I highly recommend a view, if you enjoy children's and YA as much as I do). As I began reading this novel, the first few chapters, I was suspicious of why it had won such an accolade. And then the America Jack grew up in began to blossom in front of me.
Being unaware of his style and voice, Jack Gantos provided me with an image of a changing America, a melding of generations, a passion for history in snap shots, and a view to living a good life, all mixed up in an ever pressing nose bleed and murder mystery filled with obits.
It seems fitting I write this post on America's Independence Day. The day we celebrate our liberties and our pursuit of happiness. For truly in Dead End in Norvelt, Jack is looking for his freedom. Freedom from a summer grounding. Thinking it will be the worst summer ever, Jack gets wrapped into intricate events that only a boy can, and finds his new "girlfriend" to be the oldest living person of Norvelt.
It is their interaction together that truly made me love this book. Youth and the elderly each learning from the other. The difference of years actually creating a stronger bond than a separation.
This is not an action packed book. It's event driven. But like Jack says in the book, "It's like when you read a book and you know that the words are important, but the images blossoming in your imagination are even more important because it's your mind that allows the words to come to life." (p. 182) The words Gantos writes are visionary. Visionary of a dying town, and the future and death of the people that made it a community. His words bring life to your own thoughts, they bring memories of those you have embraced to reside in the communities you create in your own town.
"...every living soul is a book of their own history, which sits on the ever-growing shelf in the library of human memories." (p. 259) And memories is what Gantos inspires.
His novel made me think of the small town I grew up in, how it's changing, and how at one time it seemed as though everyone knew each other, which meant you had little luck of getting away with things. It also meant that if you were in trouble, you always could find a helping hand. His novel shows the American Dream in three different generations, that of the young, parents, and the elderly.
"Dead End in Norvelt," may not be for everyone. But his novel is thought provoking.
As I came to its final pages, I realized there is no question as to why his words received the distinguished award of Newbery medal. Miss. Volker (Jack's elderly "girlfriend") states, "A good cookie is like medicine that makes you live longer." (p.170)
And Jack Gantos, as a writer, is one amazing COOKIE!!!
