From Norvelt to Nowhere
-
-
4.1 • 37 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
This rocket-paced follow-up to the Newbery Medal–winning novel Dead End in Norvelt opens deep in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis. But instead of Russian warheads, other kinds of trouble are raining down on young Jack Gantos and his utopian town of Norvelt in western Pennsylvania. After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the town's founder, twelve-year-old Jack will soon find himself launched on a mission that takes him hundreds of miles away, escorting his slightly mental elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on her relentless pursuit of the oddest of outlaws. But as their trip turns south in more ways than one, it's increasingly clear that the farther from home they travel, the more off-the-wall Jack and Miss Volker's adventure becomes, in From Norvelt to Nowhere, a raucous road novel about roots and revenge, a last chance at love, and the power of a remarkable friendship.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gantos's sequel to his Newbery-winning Dead End in Norvelt offers less history, more murder, and another hefty helping of zaniness. An explosion shuts school for repairs, leaving Jackie, 12, free to accompany Miss Volker to Hyde Park, N.Y., to pay last respects to Norvelt's recently deceased founder, Eleanor Roosevelt. Death (and a detective) seem to shadow Jackie around every bend: Mr. Spizz, the murder suspect from Dead End in Norvelt, is still at large when a new victim dies, and the travelers head to Florida when Miss Volker learns her twin sister has expired (she suspects foul play). During their road trip, Jackie reads Classics Illustrated comics that his mother has forbidden. "Those," she tells him, "are what cheaters and idiots read." But Miss Volker uses Jackie's reading as a springboard to examine the life she's lived, confessing her own Jekyll and Hyde personality and drawing a hilarious analogy between herself and Spizz to Ahab and his whale. The anxieties of the Cold War recede, overshadowed by these two larger-than-life characters bent on bringing a murderer to justice in the kookiest way possible. Ages 10 14.
Customer Reviews
Good
An exciting, adventurous book filled with detail and mystery. An overall great book to read. You do have to read the prequel before reading "From Norvelt to Nowhere". Confusing at times but still fun to read. Jack Gantos is an amazing author and I plan to read more of his books.
This is one of the best book I ever read
Get this book
Wow! Funny and scary
I like his history stuff and the elephant too.
Is farm life in Norveldt over?