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JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY

Name: JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY
Author: Jack Gantos
ISBN: 0-374-33664-4

From the Joey Pigza series , Vol. 1

by Jack Gantos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1998

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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 pull 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. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-374-33664-4

Page Count: 154

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
WRITING RADAR
by Jack Gantos ; illustrated by Jack Gantos

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TROUBLE IN ME
by Jack Gantos

- BOOK REVIEW
THE KEY THAT SWALLOWED JOEY PIGZA
by Jack Gantos

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DOWN IN THE PINEY WOODS

by Ethel Footman Smothers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1992

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Annie Rye Footman, ten, has no use for her three older half- sisters, especially after they join her Georgia sharecropper family permanently, but in time she learns to take her Grandma's advice to ``bear along wit each other.'' This first novel, based on the author's childhood in the 50's, is rich in vividly felt moments: the pleasure of buying candy at the ``rolling store''; the frustration of turning the other cheek to racist remarks and intimidation; Annie Rye's terror when snakes invade the house; her simple glee at buying a present for her heroic, hard-working father. Annie Rye and seven- year-old Brother are bright, lively characters (``Brother, look where you going.'' ``I is. You just in my way''). The rest of the cast is sketchy, and the plot takes a contrived turn near the end when Annie Rye's father literally turns away from an angry bigot with a pitchfork to rescue the man's daughter from a well. Nonetheless, Smothers explores the value of strong family bonds- -and Annie Rye's reluctant but ultimately wholehearted acceptance of her new sibs—with some insight. A promising debut. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-679-80360-2

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HARD-TIMES JAR
by Ethel Footman Smothers & illustrated by John Holyfield

- BOOK REVIEW
MORIAH'S POND
by Ethel Footman Smothers

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LITTLE BROTHER

by Allan Baillie ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1992

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Driven by a slim promise of safety plus the hope of finding his older brother Mang, 11-year-old orphan Muong Vithy makes his way across hundreds of miles of war-torn Cambodia to the Thai border, relying on his wits and the kindness of strangers to stay alive, evading the dreaded Khmer Rouge, and finding at last a chance for a new life in a distant country. Having passed through modern Phnom Penh and ancient Angkor Wat and finding both equally haunted, Vithy reaches Thailand. There, he meets Betty Harris, an Australian doctor, and begins to search for his brother, the last member of his family seen alive. Finally giving Mang up for dead, Vithy agrees to go with Harris to Australia—where he joyfully finds his brother awaiting him at the Sydney airport. The atrocities and privations that make Wartski's Boat to Nowhere (1980) and other refugee stories so searing are kept offstage here; this is a milder narrative (with something of a fairy-tale ending), but Baillie keeps the plot moving and his characters are deftly drawn and believable. (Fiction. 11-13)