Joey Pigza Loses Control

Written by: Jack Gantos

Published by: Harper Collins, 2000

ISBN 0-06-441022-6

Plot Summary:

Joey Pigza is a young buy who is learning to cope with his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Now, since Joey is taking medicine that controls his behavior (somewhat), he is able to visit his father for the summer. Joey’s dad and Joey are both “wired,” and they both wear patches: Joey contain ADHD medicine and his dad’s contain nicotine.  Joey’s dad decides to teach Joey how stop a woman (Joey’s mother) from running his life, and encourages him to go without his patches. Joey’s highest hope is that he can be a “normal” kid without the medicine, but this is far from the truth. During Joey’s summer with his dad he learns to drive, pitch a baseball, take care of his empysemic grandmother, and skydive. But most of all, Joey learns the importance of maturing and telling the truth.

Critical Analysis:

“Before I had gone to special ed and got my new meds it would have been impossible for me to sit still and make a list of good and bad things…But after I got my good meds, which were in a patch I stuck on my body every day…I started thinking about the good things I wanted to happen. And the best part about thinking good things was that now I could make them come true instead of having everything I wanted blow up in my face.”

Joey Pigza Loses Control is a touching, entertaining, and, at times, painfully truthful story. Most people can relate to a guy like Joey. Always hyper, often causing trouble, but caring and well-meaning. Joey is especially relatable to children who have ADHD, and the book truly gives readers an insight into the mind of a child with an attention disorder. The language used in Joey’s thoughts and conversations is so true to life. Reader’s will get so caught up in Joey’s thoughts that they will be rooting for him to win and succeed in his various challenges. The plot of this story is fast moving, believable, and engaging. Joey’s mind doesn’t stay in one place for long, so readers are sure to be entertained. The majority of the story takes place in Pittsburgh, where Joey’s father lives, but throughout the story, the specific setting changes from a baseball field, to a shopping mall, and to a pizza parlor, all relatable places for young children. By the end of the story, Joey learns the importance of balancing making his own decisions and listening to outside influences, a subject in which everyone could use a refresher course. Readers will be laughing, nervous, and even teary-eyed by the end of this touching and true to life story.

Awards and Reviews:

Booklist Editor’s Choice (2000)

ALSC Notable Children’s Book (2001)

John Newbery Medal (2001)

School Library Journal Best Books (2000)

Horn Book Fanfare (2000)

Kirkus Reviews: As if Joey didn't get into enough trouble in his unforgettable debut, "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key "(1998), Gantos has him wig out again in this sad, scary, blackly funny sequel. His hyperactivity under control thanks to new meds, Joey is looking forward to a six-week stay with his father Carter, hoping for some bonding. Unfortunately, his mother's warning: ". . . he can be, you know, wired like you, only he's "bigger"." understates the case. As a father, not to say a human being, Carter turns out to be appallingly dysfunctional: irresponsible, utterly self-centered, domineering, callous, and ominously short-fused. Smart enough to see through his father's loud assertions that he's turned over a new leaf, Joey nonetheless struggles to please, even when Carter flushes Joey's medication down the toilet, insisting that real men only need willpower to solve their personal problems. Joey tries to tough it out, hoping (despite bitter experience) that this time he won't go spinning off. Swept along by Joey's breathless narrative, readers will share his horrified fascination as, bit by bit, he watches the bad old habits and behavior come back. Joey's emphysemic Grandma, alternating drags on a cigarette with whiffs of oxygen as she trundles about the neighborhood in a shopping cart, and his Chihuahua Pablo, who survives both being locked in a glove compartment and having his ear pierced by a dart, provide the closest thing to comic relief here. The situation takes a dangerous turn when Joey eggs Carter into a wild rage; fortunately, his mother is just a phone call away, waiting in the wings to bail him out. Carter is truly frightening, a vision of what Joey could grow up to be, did he not possess the inner honesty to acknowledge his limitations (eventually), and caring adults to help him. A tragic tale in many ways, but a triumph too.

Booklist: Joey's life has improved since Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998); patches containing his "good meds" control his hyperactivity, and though he would never be mistaken for a calm child (well illustrated by the incident when he accidentally pierces his dog's ear with a dart), he is usually able to stop and think before he gets into trouble. Joey isn't crazy about spending time with the father he has never met, but he hopes that his Dad "will love me." Carter Pigza is "wired" just like Joey, but the patch he wears is for nicotine, and he regularly peels it off to smoke. He likes to think deep thoughts while gazing at the Humpty Dumpty at the miniature golf course late at night, and he comes to the conclusion that both he and Joey need to do the manly thing and get rid of their patches. Joey remembers all too well how he felt before he got his medicine, but he tries hard to make his dad proud. In tremendously poignant scenes, he struggles valiantly to do what his mother has told him: think just one thought at a time. But as his medicine wears off, he gradually loses control. Gantos has given Joey a remarkably vivid personality, and, blending irrepressible humor with a powerful depiction of a child's longing for normalcy, he has written a dead-on portrayal of a young person assessing the often self-serving behavior of the adults who control his life. Few children these days don't know someone wrestling with ADHD; meeting up with Joey is a fine way to gain insight into the problems "hyper" children face. But the story is more than message. Ganto's skillful pacing, sly humor, and in-depth characterization make it a truly memorable read.

VOYA: In this sequel to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1998/VOYA February 1999), Joey begins his visit with his father on a relatively even keel because of the medication he takes to treat his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is not, however, an easy father-and-son reunion, as Carter Pigza is an adult version of the non-medicated Joey, so wired that "a humming sound [comes] out of his body." Joey pitches for the baseball team that his father coaches, and Carter has plans for a winning season. Joey handles the demanding role of being the hotshot pitcher-son of the coach until Carter decides that Joey is a normal kid who does not need "crutches" and flushes Joey's medicine down the toilet. Although he wants to believe in his father, Joey knows that it will not be long before the old wired Joey comes back. The reader is drawn into Joey's struggle for self-control while his medication wears off and as his father's behavior becomes more erratic with the increased consumption of alcohol. Through Joey's narration, Gantos brilliantly portrays the often-manic pace of an ADHD mind, but he alleviates the tension with touches of humor. Joey accidentally pierces his Chihuahua Pablo's ear with a wayward dart and wants to put an earring in the hole. His mother is not amused, although the reader cannot help but smile at Joey's antics. Joey is a young teen struggling to maintain control in an often out-of-control world, a struggle with which many teens will relate. Gantos's style of writing and the subject matter make this book a great middle school read-aloud.

Connections:

Author Jack Gantos began writing as a young child by keeping journals. Have students or patrons start writing about their humorous, emotional, or challenging experiences in journals. If you must grade the assignment, use only a participation grade. Allow students to be confident in the fact they will be the only person reading their journals, as some may want to include personal stories.

Related Titles:

Cheaney, J.B. The Middle of Somewhere. New York: Alfred A Knoph, 2007.

Cook, Julia. It’s Hard To Be a Verb. Chattanooga: National Center for Youth Issues, 2010.

Gantos, Jack. I Am Not Joey Pigza. New York: Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Janover, Caroline. Zipper, the Kid with ADHD. Bethesda: Woodbine House, 1997.