It's the summer of 1962, and 11-year-old Jack Gantos is grounded, big-time. Instead of having two months of carefree adventures in his small town of Norvelt, Penn., he's going to work off his punishment by helping an elderly neighbor. Such is the stage that Gantos sets for his latest work of humorous, inspired-by-truth fiction—and his first middle-grade novel in 10 years—Dead End in Norvelt, due from Farrar, Straus & Giroux in September. Gantos will be signing ARCs of his book today, 4–5 p.m., at Table 15.
The real Norvelt (named in honor of Eleanor Roosevelt, joining the final syllables of her first and last names) was one of the many subsistence homesteads created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in the 1930s, designed to put unemployed coal miners and industrial laborers back to work. "It was a great scheme," says Gantos, "a socialist ideal, embracing community values. It all went swimmingly well—until it didn't."
That backdrop provided rich material for young Jack's story. "My mother loaned me out to the woman down the road, Miss Volker," Gantos recalls. "She was the town nurse, and she also wrote all the obituaries. Her hands had become terribly arthritic, so she couldn't write or type very well anymore." Gantos found himself not just an errand boy but a student of fascinating history, which he loved. "As soon as anybody would die, she dictated the obituary to me," he says. "And there was always a ‘This Day in History' item attached to it. I would write them out—these eloquent, passionate pieces—type them up, and take them to the local paper. As the town was dying, Miss Volker tried to educate people about the history of the town, and why it was great and should be saved. Unfortunately, the town was obdurate to enlightenment."
Dead End offers readers a "telescopic view from small town to big world and how we're related," says Gantos. "You see this utopian town in its last stages. Then you see the world around it." Of course, in typical Gantos style, the book is peppered with plenty of comical misadventures as well. "Humor is the mousetrap," he says. "I draw people in with it, then let 'em have it. A delivery that uses humor, color, and snappy dialogue allows me to carry the cargo of the theme."
At BEA, Gantos is looking forward to getting early feedback and "having juicy conversations about my book, which is lovely and totally gratifying," he says. But he also hopes to take time to indulge his true book-lover side. "I want to go off the leash and run around Javits finding all kinds of wonderful publishers and amazing stuff you couldn't find anywhere else. This place is a gold mine."
