Children's Corner: 'Dead End in Norvelt' led Jack Gantos to Newbery gold
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Jack Gantos.
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Jack Gantos kept his hopes for winning a Newbery Medal -- given annually by the American Library Association to the best-written children's book -- in "lockdown mode" over the past few months.
Mr. Gantos, 60, had come close to winning the gold Newbery Medal in 2001 for "Joey Pigza Loses Control." But the book was instead awarded a silver Newbery Honor -- still quite a coup, given the thousands of children's books published each year.
So, while his latest novel, "Dead End in Norvelt" (FSG, $15.99, ages 10-14), was included in many lists of favorites to win the 2012 Newbery Medal, Mr. Gantos himself tried to push the thought to the back of his mind.
Then, two weeks before the latest Newbery winner was announced, "Dead End in Novelt" won the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction, and the author thought, "OK, maybe it's really on people's minds."
Still, he had decided just to carry on with his day as usual on Jan. 23, when the awards were announced. Then the phone rang and Mr. Gantos thought: "If this is my mother ...!
"And there was the whole Newbery committee, like they were inside the phone, and they were screaming, and I was still trying to figure out if I had won the silver or the gold," he recalled in a telephone interview from his Boston home.
This time, however, Mr. Gantos had finally won the Newbery Medal.
"The award is even bigger than I realized," he added, noting that he had received dozens of phone calls and hundreds of emails and hadn't been able to get back to his writing since he won.
The author of more than 40 books, Mr. Gantos already is a familiar figure in the world of children's literature, known for his "Rotten Ralph" picture books about a cat, the "Joey Pigza" novels for kids ages 8-12, and "A Hole in My Life," his award-winning, gripping memoir for teens about spending time in prison for drug-running.
First Published February 7, 2012 12:00 am
