Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key

Gantos, Jack. (1998). Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Plot Summary: Joey Pigza has springs in him that he can’t seem to stop from springing. In the beginning Joey Pigza lives with his grandmother who is just like Joey Pigza only sometimes can be really mean to Joey and make him do things like act like a dog or get shut in the refrigerator. Lucky for Joey his mother returns and his grandmother can no longer harm him. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key is all about a young boy with attention deficit and hyper-activity disorder. From Joey’s point of view the reader connects with his desire to pay attention in class, but not be able to. His learning to train himself to swallow his house key and then pull it back up on the string it is attached to. This only works when the string is attached which is something Joey learns the hard way.

We follow Joey through every day school life except everything is turned up a notch. Joey hates the way he feels and has a hard time understanding why he feels like he does. The climax of the book is when Joey jumps from the top of a barn into a stack of hay while on a field trip and then the next day runs with scissors and cuts the tip off of his classmate’s nose.

Joey is sent to an alternative school and finally gets the attention he needs to learn skills to identify when he is behaving badly and how to calm him down. Finally Joey feels like all of the other kids and can be exceptional just like he already knew he was. This is only the beginning for Joey Pigza!

Genre: humor-fiction; realistic-fiction

Suggested Age Range: 9-12 years

Subjects/themes: school; ADD; ADHD; family

Awards:

· ALA Notable Children's Books: 1999

Reviews:

• Horn Book starred 1/11/1998
• Publishers Weekly starred 10/1/2000
• School Library Journal starred 1/12/1998

Character List:

• Joey Pigza- a young boy with ADHD and the main focus of our book!
• Joey Pigza’s Mom- Joey’s Mom who works at a hair salon and tries to have patience for Joey.
• Maria- Joey cut off the tip of her nose. She does not like him.
• Nurse Nolyfield-The school nurse who likes Joey and always tells him he is a good kid. Joey likes her.
• Mrs. Maxy- Joey’s teacher. She doesn’t have much patience for him.
• Mrs. Howard-Joey’s special ed teacher. She is very nice and positive to Joey.
• Special Ed- Joey’s case worker at the alternative school. He helps Joey to get on the right track with the right medication and the right mind set.
• Charlie- Joey’s friend at the alternative school. He was born without fully developed arms.

Series: The Joey Pigza Books

-Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

-Joey Pigza Loses Control

-What Would Joey Do?

-I Am Not Joey Pigza

High-interest Annotation: Although there are many serious topics in this novel, it is a very funny read and one that many tweens can relate to. The comedy of what Joey does is serious, but still can be enjoyed and understood by everybody. This book can help all kids to laugh and see that they are ok.