The book that I am reading is called Dead End In Norvelt by Jack Gantos. This book is about a boy named Jack. Jack lives with his parents in Norvelt, Pennsylvania. This book takes place in 1962.There are two books in the series.

Jack’s Dad, A World War II veteran, wins a plane and goes about rebuilding it so that he “Can go anywhere he wants, anytime.” He especially wants to get out of Norvelt, a town he believes is full of “Communists,” unlike Florida where, in his words, “A hard working man can make big money building houses for rich people.” Jack’s father lies to his wife, getting Jack to help him build a fake a bomb shelter in the barn, when he is actually fixing up the plane and building a runway.

Jack is very interesting because every time he gets nervous or gets scared, his nose starts to bleed. It is like a red Niagra falls. Unfortunately, Jack overlooks this when he lies to his mom about what he and his father are up to with the  When his mother finds out about the runway, Jack runs away and his nose bleeds all over his face. When his mother catches up with him, she grounds him for life.

Jack is also a history buff and loves to read. He works for an old lady named Miss Volker who used to be a nurse and now writes obituaries for the local paper. Because her hands don’t work anymore, she soaks them in hot wax and gets Jack to write the articles for her. I think Jack will start writing his own articles for the newspaper after Miss Volker dies because he likes to help Miss Volker.

One thing Jack doesn’t like is examining dead people. When his friend Bunny takes him into the back room of the mortuary where her father works, she tells him to touch the dead guy’s neck and Jack doesn’t want to do it. Bunny takes Jack’s hand and makes him touch the dead man and it feels “Cold and stiff,” which Jack finds very disturbing.
I really like this book so far because Jack loves to read history. I also like it because I can never guess what is coming next. I would recommend this book to ages 10 and up because there is blood and death involved. I can relate to this book on a friendship level because of Bunny and Miss Volker, I have not found myself in the same circumstances as Jack. Still, I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.