Dead End in Norvelt

Well at the rate I've been reading, I figure I will finish maybe three chapter books by the time this semester is over.  So, this week I got my first book-on-tape (or CD) and started listening in the car.  I'm about half way done in only three days so it looks like I may be continuing with this trend. 

On another note, I am almost finished with my first chapter book, this past year's Newberry Award Winner Dead End in Norvelt.  Overall, it's been a fun and funny read.  I often wonder how the "Newberry Board" makes their decisions.  This book is not a show-stopping, edge-of-your-seat type of read.  Instead, the enticement of this novel for me is in the characters.  I love, love, love the character development of each unique person in this book.  Essentially, I'm assuming it's an autobiography written by Jack Gantos, about his summer as a 13-year-old boy in a dying mining town in Pennsylvania during the early 1960s.  My favorite quote from this book, I believe sums of the wonder of the story: 

"most people think history has to be about a big event like a catastrophe or a moment of divine creation, but every living soul is a book of their own history, which sits on the ever-growing shelf in the library of human memories."

So, while this book does not offer a heart-stopping thrillride, it's characters and humor speak to the core of our human story. 

My favorite character?  Jack's mom.  I love the way Gantos depicts her and every word that comes from her mouth has "mom-of-a-teenage-boy" written all over it!

So overall, a book that will always leave a smile on your face.  And sometimes that's just what "history" needs.