3.5 stars

An interesting story with a unique voice and cast of eccentric characters makes for an intriguing read. There's something about the quirkiness of the story that kept me reading it, when normally this style of writing isn't my thing. Dead End in Norvelt has this great mix of history, laugh out loud moments, lots of history, and some entertaining characters. I was really drawn to the voice of twelve year old Jack, who's the only child to two constantly feuding parents, and lives in the small town of Norvelt, named after Eleanor Roosevelt. For some reason while reading this book I kept alternating between the voices of Napoleon Dynamite and Ralphie from A Christmas Story as the story's narrators in head. The story kind of has a similar feel to both of these movies. It's one part funny, one what "what the heck is going on" and one part intriguing that I couldn't put it down.

Set in what I believe is the early 1960's, the entire feel of the book matches that time period. From the way the characters act, the things they say, what they do and their mind set. Jack himself is a kid that just can't catch a break. He finds himself grounded for the summer after playing with some of his father's weapons from the war he fought in and for mowing down his mother's rows of corn so his father could build a bunker. I seriously grew frustrated with Jack's parents, especially since they're the cause of some of his poor choices. He literally got caught up between their feuding and both of them telling him to different things. He had to pick which parent he was going to disobey. Poor guy. His saving grace from being grounded is his elderly neighbor his mom sends him to help each morning, Miss Volker. She is hilarious and just calls it like she sees it.

Wrapped up into Jack's story is a old fashion murder mystery, the threat of the Hells Angels coming to down, a father who's anxious to get his bomb shelf built along with his run way for his war plane he's building and mother who's more worried about growing food and feeding the poor than what's going on with Jack. There's a lot that's wrapped up into this story, and I don't think my review will do this book justice. It's one you really have to pick up and read for yourself. It really felt like I was getting a glimpse to Jack's journal from growing up and the summer he learned an important life lesson. It's realistic, the humor in this book comes at all the right moments, and it's story with an important life lesson learned for Jack. It's truly a book that will be appealing to many ages and I can see why it's won both the Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Fiction and Horn's Best Fiction Books in 2011.