Looooooved this! I was sad when Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt didn't win the Newbery, but I knew Dead End in Norvelt was supposed to be kind of similar. It was and amazingly enough I liked it even more! Jack Gantos is grounded for the summer and the only times he gets to escape the house is when he is out in the back yard digging a bomb shelter or down the street helping Miss. Volker write obituaries for the paper. It turns out there are quite a lot of original Norvelters dying this particular summer so Jack spends a lot of time with Miss. Volker. It also turns out that these deaths may not be natural - even though the women are all getting on in years. The book was hilarious. I tried to only read it during my lunch break so it would last longer. I highly recommend everyone read it.
