Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Joey Pigza Books (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and Entertaining
Review: I wish that this book had been around when I was a teacher. Jack Gantos did an excellent job of portraying the out-of-control feelings of a kid with ADHD. I remember how frustrated, and sometimes angry, I'd become with my own students who couldn't sit still for thirty seconds at a time. This book gave me a glimpse into the frustrations that go on inside the head of an ADHD kid. The serious nature of the topic was handled with deft humor, which kept the book from ever becoming too heavy or depressing. I also appreciated the fact that the teachers weren't portrayed as "the bad guys," but as concerned adults who just didn't always "get" what was going on with Joey. I'd recommend this book for any teacher, and as a funny class read aloud that could lead to some good discussion.

By the way, my 67-year-old father who was staying with me picked up this book and read it all in one sitting, giving it the high praise of "this is a pretty good book."

Rating:
Summary: Joey Pigza Soars Like a Roller Coaster
Review: Joey Pigza is a kid in Ms. Maxy's 3rd grade class. He is suffering from ADH, and his life is like a soaring roller coaster. Originally, he lived with his somewhat abusive and also hyperactive Grandmother. Their house always looked like a tornado hit it. He had a very hard time at school. He had no friends. Since he could not sit still for 5 seconds, he always got in trouble. One day he sharpened his finger in a pencil sharpener. A big change occurred when his mom came back into his life, and his grandmother moved away. Joey has never met his Dad. One day he swallowed his house key, so he went to a Special Ed class for a little bit of the day. One day at school Joey was making bumper stickers for he and his mom to change the world. So he took Ms. Maxis big teacher scissors to cut the stickers out. He was running with them and tripped and cut off the tip of the nose of one of his classmates. He was sent to a Special Ed school to help him with his problem. They had to do a brain test to make sure that Joey got the right medication. Joey met new people and learned about his condition. He got to go back to his old school in Ms.Maxy's class. I think Jack Gnats did a great job on this book. Out of all the books that I have ever read this was the best one. I am ten years old in the fourth grade.

Rating:
Summary: Student at Western Michigan University
Review: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key is definitely my favorite book we read in class. I could just totally picture as a boy I went to school with. Everyone thought he was so hyper and he never really had any friends. Throughout the whole book I kind of was saddened because I felt bad for Joey not being able to find the right medicine to make him normal. People should have accepted him for who he was instead of making such a big deal about him being hyper. It was definatley a story that many children today can relate to. I think that even if you dont enjoy reading you will enjoy this book because by the first page, Gantos has you sucked in. Its a book enjoyed by both children and adults! I HIGHLY RECCOMEND!

Rating:
Summary: Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Review: Our 6th grade Book Club just finished reading Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. We give it an "18 thumbs up". There are nine of us in the club. Joey Pigza is the main character and suffers from ADHD. At first he is being raised by his grandmother. This is not a good situation for Joey. His mother reappears in the story and she changes some rules for Joey to follow. Then his grandmother leaves. His mother is an alcoholic and has her own problems. Besides being serious, the book has humorous moments. For example, when he swallows his house key at school and has to let nature take its course. Because of his dud meds, the Amish field trip is a disaster. But the ultimate disaster is his disaster of cutting off the tip of Maria's nose. This sends him to the Special Ed center where he finally gets some help from "Special ED." Joey finds out his brain is not like scrambled eggs and is then given the proper medication for his ADHD problem. In the end, Joey realizes he has always been a caring person but just needed to be on the right medication. We highly recommend this book as a read aloud or book group selection.

Rating:
Summary: how dumb can you be to swallow a key
Review: the book joey pigza swallows the key is a very good book. the reason this is a good book is because you never now what joey is going to do because it all matter on weather he toke his meds or not

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Summary: DanielKimP3
Review: The story starts off with a boy who can't control himself because he has a disorder. He is always very active and can't control it. He takes medication, but the pills wear off really fast. He has the diorder called ADD, when he was at school he did some serious things that hurt some other people. He put his finger inside the pencil sharpener; swallowed his house key; and he ran through the class with a sharp pair of scissors, which harmed one of his classmates seriously. He was sent to a special education center, where he was helped by a teacher that helped him a lot. He got special pills that worked a lot better, and he wasn't as hyper. He went back to his normal school and there he sat in the Big Quiet Chair to read a book.
I liked this book because it tells a story about a boy who can't keep himself still. The vocabulary in the book is very advanced and it is a challenging book. There are parts where you can't pull away from the book because you are to into it. The book is very fun and the author wrote the book very well.
My favorite part in the book was when Joey was running in the classroom with a sharp pair of scissors. When he fell and cut part of the girl's ear is very gruesome and exciting. It makes your heart pound for what might come next in the story. The detail the author put in the book to make the scene almost come alive, like it were all happening right there and now. It's make the story more interesting and more fun to read.

Rating:
Summary: Joey swallowed his key
Review: This book is about a boy named Joey Pigza. He is an out of control boy who takes medication that doesn't work. When Joey was in school he would always fiddle with his house key. Joey always swallowed his key and pulled it back out again by the string. One day Joey was using the teacher's scissors and cut off the tip of a girl's nose. After that happened he was sent to the speacial-ed center downtown. While he was there he cleaned up his act and got the right dosage of medication he needed. After that he got sent back to his regular school. This story was good to read and it was funny too. I really don't like to read books but this book was ok.

Rating:
Summary: A joy to read and a good point to boot
Review: This was a book that touched me in many ways and I am quite happy to have read it. Joey Pigza is an extremely hyperactive 5th Grade boy. As he says to start the book "At school they say I'm wired bad, or wired mad, or wired sad, or wired glad, depending on my mood and what teacher has ended up with me. But there is no doubt about it, I'm wired". Through Gantos' deft storytelling, with Joey acting as our narrator, we are quickly taken into Joey's world. Joey's world isn't one that most of us would like to be a part of for very long. Joey has, up until the time we met him, lived in a world punctuated by two things. The fact that he is a wired, or in other words suffering from an extreme case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and a home life that involves a grandmother taking care of Joey, whose parents are AWOL, who in her own wired way is rather abusive towards Joey. Joey's life changes though with the return of his mother, which causes Joey's grandmother to leave. Joey's mother is a far more together person and is committed to trying to help Joey get better. However, Joey's ADHD causes him to get into ever more destructive situations that culminates in Joey accidentally maiming a girl's nose. With Joey describing the situation, if the reader reads quickly enough, it is quite possible for Joey's ridiculous decisions to make sense. Upon any sort of reflection Joey's decisions look ridiculous, but the fact that Gantos can make the reader understand why Joey acts the way he does is a large part of what makes this an excellent book. After reaching rock bottom Joey is sent to a special school where Joey's desire to not act that way is met with people who can help him get better. And slowly, and not without the occasional set back, Joey with the help of his case worker, "Special Ed", Joey is put on medication that works and he learns to make good decisions. The book ends with one of life's little triumphs as Joey is allowed to leave the Special Education school and return to his normal school. While not everything is OK things are look pretty good for Joey. This sums up the true triumph of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. The book manages to capture the shades of grey that are almost always missing from children's book. Joey is an astute 5th grader, but he is still a 5th grader and so sometimes there are just things he doesn't understand, unlike other children's books where the children appear to be nothing short of clairvoyant. This is a book that is fun to read while being so much more. I highly recommend this book.