An interesting newberry award winning book. While the older neighbor / kid friendship may be overdone, it’s still worth doing. At least the author gives a semi-plausible excuse for why a twelve year old would spend so much time with an elderly lady. Enjoyed the historical bits, but felt the murder plot wasn’t as strong as it could be ( )

YA book club read. Enjoyable. KIRKUS REVIEWAn exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named ?Jack Gantos.?The gore is all Jack?s, which to his continuing embarrassment ?would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames? whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack?s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker?s daughter, a band of Hell?s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the ?hired hands? that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the¥justified, as it turns outÂ¥attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.

Jack Gantos is the author of this book. "Jack Gantos" is also the name of the main character. Both the real Gantos and the fictional Gantos grew up in little town called Norvelt in the early 1960s. But did the real Gantos get nosebleeds whenever his emotions ran high? Was he really grounded for a whole summer for shooting his dad's Japanese rifle and mowing down his mom's corn field? Did he really type obituaries for the town's medical examiner because she had terrible arthritis? Was his best friend the daughter of the town undertaker? The answers to these questions are unknown to me, but I'll tell you one thing for certain: This book has some moments that are truly hysterical. Like, set the book down and catch your breath from laughing hysterical.

I was dismayed to hear from a school librarian that many of her students would check this book out and bring it back unfinished. And it's true that it gets a little slow in the middle. I wish that Gantos had brought in the mystery of all the old ladies dying earlier in the story. That's why I give this 4 stars instead of 5. It's truly got some 5-star laughs, but suffers a bit from under-editing. I personally really enjoyed all the history told by Miss Volker, but it slowed down the plot.

UPDATE: And now this has won the Newbery Medal! Hooray for funny man Jack Gantos. ( )

novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. Filled with the love of reading and history. Hell's angels take vengeance.

Jack is caught between his arguing parents. His mother has grounded him for firing a Japanese gun his father owned. She has also volunteered him to help Mrs. Volker, a neighbor who writes obituaries.
Mrs. Volker has arthritis in her hands and can no longer write or type up the obituaries for the Norvelt News. Through the obituaries she tells the history of the deceased. The deceased have recently become the original women of the town of Norvelt. Jack loves this new job since he loves history. He has one problem, if he gets overly excited his nose will begin to bleed. As the elderly women of Norvelt begin to drop like flies, people are beginning to wonder if it is murder. Mrs. Volker examines the bodies and pronounces each death that of natural causes. Not everyone is convinced. Could she be hiding something? This was a wonderful book full of history and lessons that the reader won’t mind learning. The mystery was enough to keep you reading, yet not so difficult you couldn’t figure it out. Highly recommended reading. ( )