Speaking at Tucson Festival of Books on Writing What You Know, Jack Gantos reveals a childhood reading history that seems less than thrilling by today's Harry Potter and Hunger Games standards. He reports reading everything in his house from his his brother's picture books to his sister's diary (he felt he could write it better), from his dad's South Pacific war novels to his mom's literature, Redbook and short-story collection. He read Reader's Digest "just because it was there." He read National Geographic, which along with Reader's Digest was in every home. He says books live virally inside our brains and that days later we still borrow the vocabulary and cadence. This is the case with us and Gantos' new book Dead End in Norvelt.

Winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Dead End in Norvelt blends truth and fiction. The truth includes a kid named Jack Gantos, nose bleeds and the New Deal town of Norvelt. The fictional part is the plot that ties it all together. Jack gets "grounded for life" for (among other things) shooting off his dad's "Jap" rifle. His atonement includes helping a feisty old neighbor typewrite obituaries filled with stories related to the town's history. Here's more truth -- Dead End in Norvelt is a great read aloud for all ages that will keep readers laughing days after they put it down.

One of our favorite characteristics of Gantos' writing is its heartfelt nature. We love Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza (see how much) even though they're total pains in the ass. We root for Jack Henry as he struggles to get through his intermediate and middle school years. We feel the same empathy for Jack in Dead End in Norvelt. Jack views and reacts to his world so authentically that we imagine the emotional chord ties directly to Gantos' life-long journaling practice. Because of this deeper connection, we can laugh at hunting advice that includes "no farting" and at the same time love Jack for his gas-tacular efforts to save a deer.

We appreciate whatever it was that Gantos got from his childhood reading condensed readers. Known for structure (the only author we encountered at TFOB who admitted to the importance of structure), Gantos masterfully tells a story with beautifully constructed arcs. In the case of Dead End in Norvelt, Gantos writes a large arc that encompasses the whole book and smaller arcs for each vignette. In this way, each chapter can be read as a short story, however we recommend reading the whole book. It's exponentially more fun that way.