Well, I came to the dead-end of Dead End in Norvelt last night.
It's a great book! Definitely read it! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get grossed out! But most of all, you'll* realize how tired your are of the spunky old lady paradigm.
The great big world of kiddie lit in deeply infested with 'em. In Dead End, we have a soft-hearted old-lady crank who is the plant for the historical vignettes sprinkled throughout the book. But it could have been an outspoken grandma (preferably from the South). An old lady down the street who makes it heck to be a kid, but then somehow through various, innummerable ways, means, plot devices, character markers and narrative arcs ad infinitum reveals her heart o' gold.** A librarians. A maiden aunt.*** A church lady. And they're all quirkier than anyone has a right to be: they hog the page, blurt out all the great lines and just generally steal the ending.
So.
Though I'm reeeeeeallly done with greeting yet another quirky SpOLA**** every time I crack open a mid-grade, (and I say this with all the love in my heart since I myself am of SpOLA-ish age, and lemme tell you, the inner weird stuff really does come flying out thick and fast. Mainly because your* looks are gone and therefore you* no longer give a yellow rat bastid what anybody thinks, but I digress), I am so glad---oh, so glad!---as a writer and a reader for Jack's dad.
So.
Why don't they give a Newbery for most distinguished character-contribution to fatherhood for children, huh huh huh? Because Jack the Elder is such a great character.***** In the course of this book he rebuilds an airplane, gets his pilot's license, goes hunting and moves the better part of entire town to the next state.
I make him sound like just another archetype---the emotionally-stunted-he-man-who-doesn't-understand archetype. But Jack's dad is FANTASTIC. All you have to do is read the hunting scene to know that this man is a complicated soul.
And the ending? The SpOLA is off taking a well-deserved nap while Jack and his dad get up to no good. At all.
Perfect!
_________
* Especially if you're me!
**Actually, Miss Volker is a bit of all of these as well.
***My Drags of Spratt has one of these. She's not particularly old, though
****Spunky old lady archetype. Thanks, dear H, for long ago straightening me out on the spelling of archetype.
*****The mom's pretty cool, too. She has a big scene with a gun and a deer, too. Kinda cool, both parents with the guns and deer motif. Don't run across that every day!
