New Newbery

I love Jack Gantos. Joey Pigza cracks me up. I even named my son Joey! Gantos' biography, Hole In My Life, was surprising, but gripping. So I really looked forward to reading Dead End in Norvelt when I learned that his latest book won the biggest award in children's literature. Soooooooo, what did I think? I don't know. I'm all over the place with this. My first impression was how hilarious it was that the main character was actually Jack himself, who did indeed grow in in Pennsylvania. Interesting. All the characters were intriguiing. Maybe characterization is what Gantos specializes in. The plot though- it was a bit random. We had the dad building a plane, though I'm not sure why, the dying town and its dying residents, Jack grounded cause he shot his dad's gun because, as we learned in the, his uncle had loaded it. That part really lost me. The uncle really came out of left field. Of course, if I'm honest with myself, I do regularly miss the big picture. Maybe I just need someone pointing it to me. Maybe my readers will tell me what they see in it that I missed. I mean I liked it, but I didn't love it.