FROM NORVELT TO NOWHERE

Author Jack Gantos picks up right where his Newbery Medal-winning DEAD END IN NORVELT left off, delivering young Jack's and elderly Miss Volker's increasingly wacky adventures in his own perfectly droll and deadpan voice. It's hard to imagine another narrator relating the story with the same familiar fondness—Gantos's reading is spot-on and never over the top. It's also hard not to laugh out loud. This time around, Jack and Miss Volker do get out of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, embarking on a road trip to pay their last respects to Eleanor Roosevelt and catch an infamous Norvelt murderer. Some of the situations defy belief—but listeners should simply shelve any doubts and hang on for this wild and hilarious ride. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2013]