From Norvelt to Nowhere

Starred review from August 12, 2013
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.

November 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-This followup (2013) to the Newbery-winning Dead End in Norvelt (2011, both Farrar, Straus) promises-and delivers-as much odd history and morbid hilarity as its predecessor. How can a routine trip to visit the grave of the town founder turn into a whale-sized mission of revenge? When two more old ladies mysteriously die, Jack's feisty, obituary-writing neighbor, Miss Volker, suspects her ex-beau, the still-at-large Mr. Spizz, is behind the crimes. Getting no help from local authorities, the mismatched duo embarks on a road trip from Norvelt to Miami to track down the notorious killer. The pistol-packing Miss Volker is dead-set on vigilante justice, while Jack hopes to prevent his elderly friend from doing anything drastic. Allusions to Moby Dick and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hint that the course of this quest may not run smoothly. Meanwhile, the pair is being trailed by a rogue undertaker, a weasel-faced detective, and Spizz himself. Jack soon suspects there's more to this convoluted fish story than meets the eye. Fans of the first title will delight in revisiting favorite characters, but listeners don't need to be familiar with the first book to appreciate this new adventure. Gantos reads without flair, barely varying his voice for emotion or character. Unfortunately, this distracts from an otherwise highly entertaining story. This book will appeal to boys and reluctant readers, but stick with the print version.-Alissa Bach, Oxford Public Library, Oxford MI

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