Bibliography
Gantos, J. ( 2000 ). Joey Pigza Swallows the Key. New York, N.Y.: Harper Trophy.
Joey Pigza was born wired just like his grandmother and his dad and as much as he wants to stay in control he cannot. Joey is fully aware that he is not in control. Joey's grandmother has raised him since his mother left to find his dad. When she returns, she tries to get help for Joey through medication, but the medication wears off by noon and Joey is back to his “wired” self. After an accident with scissors that hurts another student, Joey is sent to the special-ed center. While he is in special-ed, he sees a doctor who changes his medication from pills to a patch.
This book is hilarious at times, but at other times it is really sad knowing how much Joey wants to stay in control. This book will make the reader think twice the next time he/she see a child who is out of control. I think this book would be good to help children understand the problem of ADHD. For a child who suffers from ADHD, this book could help him understand his problem and realize he is not alone in his suffering. Students who do not suffer from ADHD could learn to show more compassion for the child who does.
Reviews:
Mary Jane (BookHive (www.bookhive.org))Joey Pigza is wired. He literally bounces off the walls. He puts his finger in the pencil sharpener. He swallows his house key. As he spirals out of control, his mother comes back into his life. Will her return and the proper medication help him to feel 'normal'? We hope so. Down deep, Joey's a good kid who struggles with ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder]. Told in the first person, from Joey's perspective, this fast-paced book is sometimes funny, and sometimes sad, but always entertaining. Category: Humor; Realistic Fiction. Grade Level: Intermediate (4th-6th grade). 1998, Farrar Straus and Giroux. Ages 9 to 12.
Susan Dove Lempke (Booklist, December 15, 1998 (Vol. 95, No. 8))Joey Pigza, who lives with his hyperactive grandmother, understands that he's also "wired bad." Despite his best intentions, he can't concentrate and can't hold still. What's more, he can never resist an impulse: when his teacher assigns him to sharpening pencils to keep him from getting into mischief, he sharpens pencils, then chalk, then a Popsicle stick, and finally his own finger. He begins to settle down when his mother returns and gets him started on medication, but unfortunately, his morning pill wears off by noon every day. What makes this unusual is Gantos' sympathetic approach to all concerned. There are no bad guys among the adults, just well-meaning, occasionally exasperated grown-ups trying to help Joey get his behavior under control. Joey tells his own story, giving a vivid, keenly observed, detailed account of his actions and the reactions of others: "By lunchtime my meds had worn off again and I was spinning around in my chair like it was the Mad Hatter's Teacup ride at the church carnival." Gantos sometimes seems to be using Joey to inform readers, and occasionally makes Joey's comments seem too adult, but Joey is warm, lovable, and good-hearted, though maybe just a little too nice to be realistic. (He never even gets angry when he's deprived of the sugary treats he so craves.) Most teachers and students know at least one child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and this book will surely help them become more understanding, even as they enjoy Gantos' fresh writing style and tart sense of humor. Category: Middle Readers. 1998, Farrar, $16. Gr. 4-7.
Uma Krishnaswami (Children's Literature)Joey Pigza is wired. Not just that, but he's got a wired streak in his family. Not just that, but he's heading for deeper and deeper trouble. He can't sit still. He does bizarre things that cross the border from funny to scary in the spin of a wrist. And he can't stop himself. But most of all, he can't figure out why life with the troubled mother he loves is so filled with "everyday sadness." Gantos takes the reader into the fractured world of the child with what we today call ADHD. Whose road to what we might call normalcy is rocky beyond imagining. The reader follows that road in this story, with Joey's direct, edgy, matter-of-fact voice as guide. Gritty, often disturbing, yet ending with a glimpse of the awesome resilience of this young protagonist. 1998, Farrar Straus & Giroux, $16.00. Ages 10 up.
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1998)Joey Pigza tries--he really tries--to behave. But in school and at home, his brain seems to be working against him. He's antsy. He can't focus. He blurts out answers without being called on and bounces up and down in his seat. And when his attention wanders, as it often does, it usually leads him into trouble he never intended. But Joey is a good kid--a very good kid. He is kind-hearted, funny, and brighter than his grades would allow. But when he tries to help out or do well, he often ends up making a mess of things. It's hard always being a disappointment, but Joey is finally getting help. Raised for several years by his grandmother, who has many of the same traits as Joey, his mother has come back into his life is determined to start turning things around. At the request of Joey's school, she takes him to the doctor, and that is when Joey is diagnosed with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The diagnosis is just the beginning, however. Over the course of a year there are disasters and successes both small and large as Joey and his mom learn together, with the help of doctors, therapists, his classroom and special education teachers and others, how to deal with ADHD so that Joey can suceed and feel good about himself. Readers will be instantly drawn into this sensitive, funny first-person narrative by Joey's energetic, insightful voice. He is a terrificly appealing child whose creativity and goodness shine. CCBC categories: Fiction for Children. 1998, Farrar Straus Giroux, 154 pages, $16.00. Ages 9-12.
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1998)If Rotten Ralph were a boy instead of a cat, he might be Joey, the hyperactive hero of Gantos's new book, except that Joey is never bad on purpose. In the first-person narration, it quickly becomes clear that he can't help himself; he's so wound up that he not only practically bounces off walls, he literally swallows his house key (which he wears on a string around his neck and which he pulls back up, complete with souvenirs of the food he just ate). Gantos's straightforward view of what it's like to be Joey is so honest it hurts. Joey has been abandoned by his alcoholic father and, for a time, by his mother (who also drinks); his grandmother, just as hyperactive as he is, abuses Joey while he's in her care. One mishap after another leads Joey first from his regular classroom to special education classes and then to a special education school. With medication, counseling, and positive reinforcement, Joey calms down. Despite a lighthearted title and jacket painting, the story is simultaneously comic and horrific; Gantos takes readers right inside a human whirlwind where the ride is bumpy and often frightening, especially for Joey. But a river of compassion for the characters runs through the pages, not only for Joey but for his overextended mom and his usually patient, always worried (if only for their safety) teachers. Mature readers will find this harsh tale softened by unusual empathy and leavened by genuinely funny events. 1998, Farrar Straus & Giroux, $16.00. © 1998 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 1998 (Vol. 52, No. 3))Joey knows that he’s “wired” and that his medication only intermittently enables him to calm down and focus on school tasks and reasonable behavior. More often he’s swallowing his house key on a bet, sharpening everything he can find (including his finger) in the pencil sharpener, and sneaking the special scissors out of the teacher’s desk--which results in another student’s trip to the emergency room. This drastic event results in Joey’s being moved from the special education class in his own school to “intensive counseling at the special-ed center downtown,” but it also results in a more comprehensive and ultimately more helpful approach to his problems. The plot has some similarities to familiar learning-disability problem novels, but the treatment is quite different indeed. For one thing this starts after most of them leave off--the problem isn’t that Joey’s undiagnosed, and mere recognition of the problem isn’t enough to solve it. Gantos has a heartbreaking honesty about the lot of a kid treated poorly by fate that makes you realize how much other children’s authors tend to pull their punches. Joey’s mother really does love him; she also left him for years with his creepy grandmother while she threw her lot in with his alcoholic father (whereabouts of Grandma and her son both currently uncertain), and she has missed several opportunities to improve Joey’s situation for reasons we never quite know. Joey’s narration is a particular achievement: it offers a vivid insight into his world, making his insistent internal pressure to bounce and fiddle tangible and contagious while also making it completely understandable that adults who deal with him don’t really know what to do and are often at their wits’ end. Jane Cutler’s Spaceman (BCCB 5/97) decorously broke some new ground on this topic; Gantos roars past genre boundaries and takes readers to a place they’ve probably never been before. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 1998, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1998, Farrar, 160p, $16.00. Grades 5-7. Cathryn M.
Gantos, J. ( 2000 ). Joey Pigza Swallows the Key. New York, N.Y.: Harper Trophy.
Joey Pigza was born wired just like his grandmother and his dad and as much as he wants to stay in control he cannot. Joey is fully aware that he is not in control. Joey's grandmother has raised him since his mother left to find his dad. When she returns, she tries to get help for Joey through medication, but the medication wears off by noon and Joey is back to his “wired” self. After an accident with scissors that hurts another student, Joey is sent to the special-ed center. While he is in special-ed, he sees a doctor who changes his medication from pills to a patch.
This book is hilarious at times, but at other times it is really sad knowing how much Joey wants to stay in control. This book will make the reader think twice the next time he/she see a child who is out of control. I think this book would be good to help children understand the problem of ADHD. For a child who suffers from ADHD, this book could help him understand his problem and realize he is not alone in his suffering. Students who do not suffer from ADHD could learn to show more compassion for the child who does.
Reviews:
Mary Jane (BookHive (www.bookhive.org))Joey Pigza is wired. He literally bounces off the walls. He puts his finger in the pencil sharpener. He swallows his house key. As he spirals out of control, his mother comes back into his life. Will her return and the proper medication help him to feel 'normal'? We hope so. Down deep, Joey's a good kid who struggles with ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder]. Told in the first person, from Joey's perspective, this fast-paced book is sometimes funny, and sometimes sad, but always entertaining. Category: Humor; Realistic Fiction. Grade Level: Intermediate (4th-6th grade). 1998, Farrar Straus and Giroux. Ages 9 to 12.
Susan Dove Lempke (Booklist, December 15, 1998 (Vol. 95, No. 8))Joey Pigza, who lives with his hyperactive grandmother, understands that he's also "wired bad." Despite his best intentions, he can't concentrate and can't hold still. What's more, he can never resist an impulse: when his teacher assigns him to sharpening pencils to keep him from getting into mischief, he sharpens pencils, then chalk, then a Popsicle stick, and finally his own finger. He begins to settle down when his mother returns and gets him started on medication, but unfortunately, his morning pill wears off by noon every day. What makes this unusual is Gantos' sympathetic approach to all concerned. There are no bad guys among the adults, just well-meaning, occasionally exasperated grown-ups trying to help Joey get his behavior under control. Joey tells his own story, giving a vivid, keenly observed, detailed account of his actions and the reactions of others: "By lunchtime my meds had worn off again and I was spinning around in my chair like it was the Mad Hatter's Teacup ride at the church carnival." Gantos sometimes seems to be using Joey to inform readers, and occasionally makes Joey's comments seem too adult, but Joey is warm, lovable, and good-hearted, though maybe just a little too nice to be realistic. (He never even gets angry when he's deprived of the sugary treats he so craves.) Most teachers and students know at least one child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and this book will surely help them become more understanding, even as they enjoy Gantos' fresh writing style and tart sense of humor. Category: Middle Readers. 1998, Farrar, $16. Gr. 4-7.
Uma Krishnaswami (Children's Literature)Joey Pigza is wired. Not just that, but he's got a wired streak in his family. Not just that, but he's heading for deeper and deeper trouble. He can't sit still. He does bizarre things that cross the border from funny to scary in the spin of a wrist. And he can't stop himself. But most of all, he can't figure out why life with the troubled mother he loves is so filled with "everyday sadness." Gantos takes the reader into the fractured world of the child with what we today call ADHD. Whose road to what we might call normalcy is rocky beyond imagining. The reader follows that road in this story, with Joey's direct, edgy, matter-of-fact voice as guide. Gritty, often disturbing, yet ending with a glimpse of the awesome resilience of this young protagonist. 1998, Farrar Straus & Giroux, $16.00. Ages 10 up.
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1998)Joey Pigza tries--he really tries--to behave. But in school and at home, his brain seems to be working against him. He's antsy. He can't focus. He blurts out answers without being called on and bounces up and down in his seat. And when his attention wanders, as it often does, it usually leads him into trouble he never intended. But Joey is a good kid--a very good kid. He is kind-hearted, funny, and brighter than his grades would allow. But when he tries to help out or do well, he often ends up making a mess of things. It's hard always being a disappointment, but Joey is finally getting help. Raised for several years by his grandmother, who has many of the same traits as Joey, his mother has come back into his life is determined to start turning things around. At the request of Joey's school, she takes him to the doctor, and that is when Joey is diagnosed with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The diagnosis is just the beginning, however. Over the course of a year there are disasters and successes both small and large as Joey and his mom learn together, with the help of doctors, therapists, his classroom and special education teachers and others, how to deal with ADHD so that Joey can suceed and feel good about himself. Readers will be instantly drawn into this sensitive, funny first-person narrative by Joey's energetic, insightful voice. He is a terrificly appealing child whose creativity and goodness shine. CCBC categories: Fiction for Children. 1998, Farrar Straus Giroux, 154 pages, $16.00. Ages 9-12.
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1998)If Rotten Ralph were a boy instead of a cat, he might be Joey, the hyperactive hero of Gantos's new book, except that Joey is never bad on purpose. In the first-person narration, it quickly becomes clear that he can't help himself; he's so wound up that he not only practically bounces off walls, he literally swallows his house key (which he wears on a string around his neck and which he pulls back up, complete with souvenirs of the food he just ate). Gantos's straightforward view of what it's like to be Joey is so honest it hurts. Joey has been abandoned by his alcoholic father and, for a time, by his mother (who also drinks); his grandmother, just as hyperactive as he is, abuses Joey while he's in her care. One mishap after another leads Joey first from his regular classroom to special education classes and then to a special education school. With medication, counseling, and positive reinforcement, Joey calms down. Despite a lighthearted title and jacket painting, the story is simultaneously comic and horrific; Gantos takes readers right inside a human whirlwind where the ride is bumpy and often frightening, especially for Joey. But a river of compassion for the characters runs through the pages, not only for Joey but for his overextended mom and his usually patient, always worried (if only for their safety) teachers. Mature readers will find this harsh tale softened by unusual empathy and leavened by genuinely funny events. 1998, Farrar Straus & Giroux, $16.00. © 1998 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 1998 (Vol. 52, No. 3))Joey knows that he’s “wired” and that his medication only intermittently enables him to calm down and focus on school tasks and reasonable behavior. More often he’s swallowing his house key on a bet, sharpening everything he can find (including his finger) in the pencil sharpener, and sneaking the special scissors out of the teacher’s desk--which results in another student’s trip to the emergency room. This drastic event results in Joey’s being moved from the special education class in his own school to “intensive counseling at the special-ed center downtown,” but it also results in a more comprehensive and ultimately more helpful approach to his problems. The plot has some similarities to familiar learning-disability problem novels, but the treatment is quite different indeed. For one thing this starts after most of them leave off--the problem isn’t that Joey’s undiagnosed, and mere recognition of the problem isn’t enough to solve it. Gantos has a heartbreaking honesty about the lot of a kid treated poorly by fate that makes you realize how much other children’s authors tend to pull their punches. Joey’s mother really does love him; she also left him for years with his creepy grandmother while she threw her lot in with his alcoholic father (whereabouts of Grandma and her son both currently uncertain), and she has missed several opportunities to improve Joey’s situation for reasons we never quite know. Joey’s narration is a particular achievement: it offers a vivid insight into his world, making his insistent internal pressure to bounce and fiddle tangible and contagious while also making it completely understandable that adults who deal with him don’t really know what to do and are often at their wits’ end. Jane Cutler’s Spaceman (BCCB 5/97) decorously broke some new ground on this topic; Gantos roars past genre boundaries and takes readers to a place they’ve probably never been before. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 1998, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1998, Farrar, 160p, $16.00. Grades 5-7. Cathryn M.
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