Dead End in Norvelt
Jack Gantos
 Dead End takes place during the summer after the American schoolboy Jack Gantos fires his father's war trophy, a Japanese sniper rifle. As punishment he must stay in the house except as sent by his mother to help their elderly neighbor Miss Volker write obituaries and a history column for the town newspaper. Among other things, that work uncovers a murder mystery. Jack "learns snippets of American history that he has never been taught in school", some indirectly and some by Miss Volker's pointed explanations.