Joey Pigza Loses Control

In Joey Pigza Loses Control, Joey's mom sends Joey to visit his father for the summer. To most of us, nothing seems right from the beginning. Dad takes Joey to Storybook Land, compares himself to Humpty Dumpty, never stops talking, and then does the unthinkable by flushing Joey's medicine down the toilet. Now, by all appearances, Joey and his father are just alike; they are self-medicators. The real tale begins when Joey starts to learn how little he actually has in common with his father.

I deeply enjoyed Joey Pigza Loses Control for several reasons. First of all, as the narrator, Joey is captivating. This is what middle school boys think like right? I can't help but be reminded of Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Joey's insights are not always abvious, but are always thought provoking.

I also enjoyed the book because it is written for two levels of readers, the middle school reader and the adult. As an adult, I could focus more on Joey's spiral as he becomes an unmedicated child with ADHD. As a child, readers would focus on all of the silly and funny things that Joey gets away with as the medicine leaves his system. As an adult, the hardest part of the plot for me to read however were the father's struggles with alcoholism and the borderline elderly abuse that the grandmother struggles with. I fear children reading this might not see either of these cases as problems. The important them or lesson that students should learn includes the concept of making sure that you know what adults in your life will be there to take care of you and what adults in your life might not be as trustworthy.

This book could open up some quality discussions within families and classrooms about divorce, special needs learning, and alcohol and cigeratte abuse. As a librarian, I would promote this book to students who struggle with being calm or understanding their classmates who can't remain calm. I would also ask students who are reading this text "when did you realize things were going wrong for Joey?" --or his dad? I would then prompt them to look for earlier or earlier problems or details they should have caught in the story. So many issues and problems are obvious in retrospect. What kind of adult never stops talking and does all of his deep thinking in an amusement park? Because some of Joey's behavior is so humorous, there are also great opportunites for reader's theater within this text.

Using this book as a morning or afternoon read aloud in an upper elementary school setting would prompt great discussions about maturity, both in children and adults. When should Joey have called his mother to get him after all? (Probably the moment his dad flushed his medicine or drank a beer for breakfast!)

Joey Pigza Loses Control was a Newbery Honor Book and was nominated for the Young Reader's Choice award. Publisher's Weekly says "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." In summation, the charaters of Joey Pigza Loses Control are well developed, particularly Joey as the narrator. The plot is interesting and enterataining to both adults and children. Set in a contemporary Pennsylvania, the most captivating stylistic element of the book is Joey's narration.

Joey Pigza Loses Control is a part of a series that begins with Joey Pigza Swallowed a Key and includes What would Joey Do? and I am not Joey Pigza.

References:

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York: 2000. ISBN: 9-780374-399894-51600.