JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gantos, Jack. 2000. Joey Pigza Loses Control. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374399891.

PLOT SUMMARY
Joey Pigza is finally getting his attention deficit disorder under control with the help of medication. He has been given the opportunity to live with his father for six weeks, after years of not seeing him. Though his mother fears the worst, she reluctantly lets him go. Once there, Joey tries to adapt to the crazy life of his father and grandmother. Eventually, Joey’s dad feels that his son doesn’t need to take his medication anymore and flushes them down the toilet. Joey attempts to adapt to his father’s erratic mood swings, his grandmother’s demands, and the internal struggle of trying to please both his mother and father. After a while, Joey doesn’t deal very well without his medication and starts to “lose control”.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Gantos tells a humorous yet serious story about a young boy named Joey who struggles with hyperactivity disorder, his parents divorce, and his dad’s alcoholism. When Joey visits his estranged father Carter for the summer, he doesn’t realize what a rollercoaster ride he will go on. The story is told from Joey’s point of view which helps readers feel compassion with his struggles of trying to be normal, despite his disability. Joey wants so much to please his father, but when he takes his medication away, he goes along with it even though he knows it’s not the best decision for him. Joey wants to get to know his dad but he’s too busy thinking of himself to listen to Joey. Readers will empathize with Joey as he works hard to control his behavior and starts to make some wrong choices and lose control. The struggle of not having his medication to manage his disorder finally gets too difficult for him to handle. Even though he loves his dad, he realizes what is best for him and that is to go home with his mom and take his medication.

Some readers will be able to relate to Joey’s struggle with hyperactivity disorder and the issues of having divorced parents. Readers will cheer for Joey and want him to have a good relationship with his father but will also feel compassion when it doesn’t work out. There are some comic relief scenes such as when his pet Chihuahua, Pablo, gets carsick while his mom drives with an expired license. In the end, readers will feel satisfied when Joey finally gets a chance to see first hand how his father is and comes to his own conclusion on what is best for him.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
Review in Publishers Weekly: First introduced in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, Gantos’s hyperactive hero Joey Pigza has not lost any of his liveliness. Like its predecessor, this high-voltage, honest novel mixes humor, pain, fear and courage with deceptive ease. Struggling to please everyone even as he sees himself hurtling toward disaster, Joey emerges as a sympathetic hero, and his heart of gold never loses its shine.

Review in School Library Journal: At the end of Joe Pigza Swallowed the Key, this endearing, but incredible challenging kid was adjusting to his new medicine patches for his ADHD. Now he is flung from the frying pan into the fire when he visits his father and grandmother for the summer. Readers will be drawn in immediately to the boy’s gripping first-person narrative and be pulled pell-mell through episodes that are at once hilarious, harrowing, and ultimately heartening as Joey grows to understand himself and the people around him.

CONNECTIONS
Have students write an essay about a situation when they felt out of control? How did they handle it?

Other books about Joey Pigza:
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key ISBN 0064408337
I Am Not Joey Pigza ISBN 0374399417