Bibliography
Gantos, Jack. 2002. Joey Pigza Loses Control. New York, NY: Square Fish. ISBN 9780312661014
Plot Summary
Joey Pigza is young boy with ADHD who lives with his single and neurotic mother and his beloved Chihuahua pet Pablo. Everything is fine until Joey goes to spend time with the father he has never met.
Critical Analysis
As the story begins we are quickly introduced to Joey’s neurotic mother who is driving Joey to Pittsburg so he can spend some time with Carter, his father whom he has never met. Throughout the entire ride she keeps reminding him to take his meds since the last time he forgot, he threw a dart that landed on Pablo’s ear, his Chihuahua. Soon we are introduced to his non-stop talking father who as Joey puts it “is wired.” As soon as his mother leaves his father takes him to “Storybook Land” a miniature golf place filled with fairy tale characters like Humpty Dumpty whom according to his father, inspired him to stop drinking. Soon Joey is left with his chain smoking grandmother who blackmails him to use his emergency cash his mother left, to buy her cigarettes, in exchange for Pablo who grandma has hidden. Things gradually get worse as Joey’s father continually tells him that he does not need his patches for ADHD and flushes them all down the toilet. Joey’s willingness to please his father, his need to feel loved and wanted win over as he does not tell his mother about the meds. As his father slowly begins drinking again, things get more interesting as Joey pitches in his first baseball game on the team his father is coaching. At first things are going well, until his medicine completely wears off and baseballs are flying all over the place, his father is screaming and cursing and Joey runs off from the baseball field to call his mother to come get him. In a time when many young people are being identified with ADHD, many of them will identify with Joey Pigza, his need for medication and his upside down family. The fourteen chapters are brief and easy to read. Jack Gantos has created true to life story of an ADHD boy whose life without meds is upside down.
Review Excerpt(s)
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review- “This high-voltage, honest novel mixes humor, pain, fear, and
courage with deceptive ease…Joey’s hear of gold never loses its shine.”
School Library Journal, Starred Review- “Hilarious, harrowing, and ultimately heartening.”
Booklist, Starred Review- “A truly memorable read.”
Connections
*Newberry Honor Book
*Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
*Father and son relationships
*Baseball
*Alcoholism and the effects on family
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