I read this a couple years ago when it won the Newbery Award. I re-read it because it is the first book for the Treehouse Book Club.
Combine Eleanor Roosevelt, a strange old lady writing obituaries, a dying town full of odd characters, hot paraffin, a bomb shelter, and a surplus airplane and you have the makings of an entertaining story. As if suffering from chronic nosebleeds wasn't bad enough, Jack has been "grounded for life" for firing his dad's souvenir war rifle and mowing down his mother's corn crop (on his father's orders). The only place he's allowed to go is to help old Miss Volker write obituaries for the elderly of the town that are dying off at a rapid rate. In spite of his grounding, Jack manages to get into more trouble often with the assistance of his father. His mother wants the town to be saved while his father is hired to move the vacant houses from Norvelt to West Virginia. Where does Eleanor Roosevelt come into it? Norvelt was a Depression era government project to provide homes for the poor miners. Because she played an important part in its creation and the town was named for Eleanor Roosevelt. Gantos takes a part of his childhood and liberally adds fictional details to make a fun book about a boy learning that life is not always what it seems.
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