The name of the latest Newbery Medal winner may be a familiar one to West Virginia Book Festival-goers.

Jack Gantos, one of the headliners from the 2005 Book Festival, won the annual children’s literature prize from the American Library Association. His winning novel, “Dead End in Norvelt,” is an “achingly funny romp through a dying New Deal town,” according to the ALA.

The protagonist is a boy named Jack Gantos — no surprise, since several of Gantos’ books rely heavily on his personal experience. He spent part of his childhood in the real Norvelt, a community planned by the New Deal-era federal government for laid-off coal miners in western Pennsylvania. (The town’s name comes from the last syllables of the name of the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.)

After he won the award, Gantos told The Associated Press on Monday where the idea for “Dead End in Norvelt” came from:

Gantos said he thought of “Dead End” after giving a eulogy for his aunt that looked back on Norvelt’s special past.

“I talked about the spirit of people helping people, and how people really banded together,” Gantos said during a telephone interview from his home in Boston. “And at the end of my eulogy, a lot of people came up to me and said they didn’t know about the history of Norvelt. I love history, and I love humor, so I thought history could use a little humor.”

I’m told by a reliable witness that, when he was at the Book Festival in 2005, Gantos was very funny, aiming his remarks at the children in the audience, but giving the adults enough to keep them interested as well. He talked about the importance of keeping a journal, and how that influenced his novels.

By that point in his career, he’d already been a National Book Award finalist for “Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key” and a Newbery Honor winner for “Joey Pigza Loses Control.”

Speaking of Newbery Honors (a runner-up citation), two of them were named this year: “Breaking Stalin’s Nose” by Eugene Yelchin, and “Inside Out & Back Again” by Thanhha Lai (the winner of the National Book Award for young people’s literature).

The ALA also announced the winner of the Caldecott Medal, given to a children’s illustrator each year. This year’s winner was Chris Raschka, illustrator of “A Ball for Daisy,” a wordless tale of what happens to a little dog when she loses her favorite toy. Several other awards were announced, so if you’re interested, check them out on the ALA website.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:46 am and is filed under Appalachia, Children's books, Teens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.