Dead End in Norvelt

01/27/2016
"Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
Copyright: 2011 (341 pages)
History, fiction

Disclaimer: picture of book cover is taken from books.google.com

This is one of those books I can hardly summarize if anybody asked what is it about. In short, Jack Gantos used his own name and city of birth to tell a story of one preteen boy's summer holiday in the 1960s Norvelt, Pennsylvania. Within the book we hear about Jack's bloody nose, the Gantos family's struggle for money, the history-loving Miss Volker, the odd Mr. Spizz, an anarchistic Hells Angels group, and many more. There's so much happening in this book I begin to question which part is fiction and which part is nonfiction. By the end of the book, I feel like I truly have known Jack for a whole summer. There are so many little things going on all at the same time, asking me to describe this book would feel like asking me to summarize the life of someone I know. It's difficult, but I'll try:

Dead End in Norvelt is, in essence, all about history. Especially the history behind the creation of Norvelt. Not only that, it also ties the past to the "present day" (1962) Norvelt which is slowly dying off. There was this debate between the characters about what should the current residents do about Norvelt. Miss Volker, one of the first settlers in the city, wanted to bring in more young couples so that the city would be lively once more. The rest, including Jack's father, seem to prefer selling off the properties and moving away to Florida. This debate then ties to what is and what do we do about history. Is it really just something in the past? Does it ever end? Does it live on?

Aside from local history, Jack also inserts bits and pieces about history from other places. He mentioned that his favorite part of the newspaper is the "this day in history" part, which we - as readers - always read together with him. In this sense alone, I feel like this book is written to express the author's love for history, and also to draw in more interest from its young readers towards learning history. Unlike the typically drab, boring history books Dead End in Norvelt is thrilling and hilarious. There is even a plot twist and a murder mystery in the end. The sheer refreshing honesty of twelve-year old Jack adds to the laughs and smiles. Considering how most school-aged children think history is one of the most boring subject ever invented, I like how this book is packaged that way. Most books out there attempt to make history look exciting by throwing out fun facts. This book does that too. In addition, however, it gave room for its younger readers to ponder and discuss. For example: does Miss Volker's proposed "dancing plague" truly exist - considering how she referenced history for evidence? What should the adults of Norvelt do about their town? Do they sell it off, or do they try to bring in more people so its history would live on?

I'm not at all a fan of the subject, but I couldn't put this book down once I picked it up. I sure hope the same goes for the preteen audiences.

I did say this book has a lot of little things going on at the same time. Beside a promotion for an underrated subject,  it's also a tale of Jack's perspective development. This is shown in many aspects. One of them is when he heard his mother attempt to pay his doctor with fruits and pickles. When his mother explained how she believes barter is a fairer system than money, he initially thought it's ridiculous. But later he warmed up to the opinion and even started attempting to barter himself. Economics topics aside, this shows how Jack is growing more receptive to new ideas and opinions that conflict his own. Speaking from personal experience, not everyone learns this skill even in adulthood. So I'm glad to read that out of many other things the author can write for children to think about (or imitate), he chose this one. There's also this pivotal moment at the very end of the book, when Jack finally managed to get a ride on his dad's airplane. His father, a jester himself, brought balloons filled with red paint to throw at the nearby theater's screen. At the very beginning of the book, Jack was trying to shoot at the very same theater screen with his dad' rifle (which he thought was empty). However, on the last page, he quickly changed his mind and told his father to stop the moment he saw people panicking. Again, throwing balloons from an airplane is an extreme example that not many can relate to, but it's fascinating to see how he chose to put other people on top of his idea of fun. What's even more impressive, we followed Jack through all these progress in one short summer.

Now I have talked about all these points, but still I don't even come close to telling what the story is like. On that note, I would like to end this review with a quote from another author that reviewed the same book:

"Nobody can tell a story like Jack Gantos can. And this is a story like no other. It's funny. It's thoughtful. It's history. It's weird. But you don't need me to attempt to describe it. Get in there and start reading Gantos." - Jon Scieszka, founder of guysread.com and author of the Spaceheadz series
   

The Changeling

01/25/2016
"The Changeling" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Copyright: 1970 (218 pages)
Juvenile fiction

Disclaimer: this picture is taken from books.google.com

The Changeling is a short novel revolving around the friendship between upper-class Martha Abbott and her marginalized, lower-class neighbor Ivy Carson. Although the main character is Martha, the spotlight is mostly shone on Ivy. That way, we get a good feel about both girls' thoughts and life events. Right from the get-go, Snyder made it very clear through her narration that Martha is one of the Abbotts, and Ivy one of the Carsons.  Readers got introduced in great detail to each member of the Abbott family; what they do, where they live, what their leisure activities are, and - for Martha's older siblings - what kind of students they are. In short, Martha's father is a lawyer. Her mother is a housewife with a keen interest on golf, among many other volunteer projects. Her grandmother grows many rare, prized (probably expensive) plant species in the family garden. Cath and Thomas - her two older siblings - are star students with a huge number of friends and membership in many influential organizations such as the Girl Scout and the school's football team. Ivy, on the other hand, is a Carson. That is all we got from her.

We got a description about her cramped, rundown house under the highway. We also heard that some of her siblings made it to the news for criminal activities. We then heard, from Ivy herself, that the family has eight children and constantly move from state to state. Martha then added into the narration that, "apparently", the reason why the Carsons move a lot is because Ivy's father owes a lot of people a lot of money. The "apparently" part is because Martha is flooded with rumors from other wealthy children about what exactly do the Carsons do. She (Martha) then noted that the actual fact is not as gruesome as she initially thought.

Although I realize that this is definitely not the first piece of literature that describes the friendship between two children living in two different walks of life, I find The Changeling unique as it mostly focuses on Ivy's universe of make-believe that she shared with Martha. Between a mother that is constantly drunk, an infant sibling she must care for right after school, a father that is constantly in debt and a beloved aunt that is always so sick, it's admirable to see how Ivy chose to comfort herself in the many worlds she made in her tales. That being said, I have always been a Martha Abbott all my life. From "an Abbott" perspective, Ivy's ability to stand tall despite all the turbulence going on in her family is nothing short of admirable. However, from the perspective of "a Carson", Ivy is probably just another girl. Each child growing up in difficult situations must somehow create their own way of dealing with things. It just so happens that Ivy's way is telling stories.

Speaking of perspectives, I find it fascinating how Snyder chose Martha as the main character. I feel like it is Snyder's attempt to subtly critique the way privileged people view their less privileged community members. As we follow Martha through her life in the flaw-intolerant Abbott family, we come across a heavy dose of prejudice and ignorance. We read, over and over, about Martha's family's dislike towards their daughter's friendship with "that Carson girl".  We hear opinions, unsolicited advice and accusations that we all must have heard at least once in our own real lives. Such as: poor children have greater tendency to end up in jail, or poor children cannot compete with their wealthier peers in school - even if it's in something like dancing. As Martha matures we even see these accusations from the girl herself. At one point in the book Martha noted that Ivy is still wearing the same dress as yesterday, which she claimed to be childish-looking. These are all things that we have heard or even thought of ourselves in day-to-day life. But now that we've seen Ivy through Martha's eyes, these words actually sting. In fact, this whole book hurts to read. It's supposed to be.

As I've mentioned above, I'm one of the world's many Martha Abbotts. The way the adult Abbotts throw around accusations, laugh off Martha's lack of social ability and shove Martha around to different activities they deem to be "normal" is so similar to the way my own family talk and behave. Although Snyder never described the adult Abbotts as "mean", "pushy" or "insensitive", I do think those words would easily pop up in our readers' heads no matter what background they come from. While I'm not going to say Snyder is looking to critique the upper-class families' parenting style - as we hear equally bad things from the Carson side of the book - I must say I'm happy to see this side of the upper-class to be exposed and discussed. I'm happy to see how Martha showed that her life is not at all perfect. At the same time, while we can easily see Ivy's life is not perfect, we got introduced to other ways for her to appear perfect: her personality, her courage, her dancing skills, and of course her imagination. These two girls complement each other. While I realize this book was originally written in 1970, I feel like it's still an important read to children today. I like how it shows that nothing is black-and-white. Even the most perfect-looking family has its down sides, and the least perfect-looking one their up sides.