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Modern literature's unlikely hero Joey Pigza is back in Jack Gantos's grand finale to the award-winning trilogy that began with Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and the Newbery Honor book Joey Pigza Loses Control. Joey, the sweetest, funniest kid on meds you'll ever meet, has enough trouble trying to keep his "active" self together. How can he win in his new, self-assumed role as "Mr. Helpful" when his divorced parents are out of control, his Grandma is surly and morbid, and Olivia, the mean blind girl he's forced to homeschool with, calls him a "hyper retard"? Even Olivia's religious mother can't save him with her "What would Jesus do?" refrain. As his world of flawed adults spins around him in carnivalesque chaos, Joey has to decide on a daily basis what he, Joey, should do. At least he has Pablo, his loyal Chihuahua mutt, his lucky charm. Or at least he does until his maniacal father (complete with restraining order) kidnaps the dog to lure Joey out of the house.
Joey is a wonderful character, and his first-person narrative is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Sadly, it is his dying grandmother who knows him best: "You know, Joey, if you didn't wear those med patches, you'd just be thinking about yourself, and you wouldn't care about making everyone happy. Your problem is that you got better, and the rest of the world didn't." While it is more rewarding to have read the previous Joey books before this one, it is not mandatory. Still, all three Joey books are memorable, honest, fresh, exciting, truly eye-opening, and should not be missed by child or adult. (Ages 10 and older) --Karin Snelson
From Publishers Weekly
This fall offers fans a fresh crop of sequels. The final title in the Joey Pigza saga, What Would Joey Do? by Jack Gantos, finds the hero flustered by his parent's questionable reunion and his ailing grandmother's efforts to push Joey to make friends. (Oct.) Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-Joey's back, and this time he's not doing as much of the "weird Joey stuff" as usual. Now that he's ready to be "Mr. Helpful," it seems that everyone around him needs more help than he can give. His mom and dad have crazy fights involving motorcycle crashes, kidnapped Chihuahuas, and a restraining order. Joey's new homeschool partner is Olivia, a blind girl who earns the title of "Mistress of All Evil," and whose fundamentalist mother teaches them. And Grandma, the person who best understands Joey, is dying. The boy's first-person narration is as frenetically fun as it was in the first two books. Here, though, his energy and insights are turned more on those around him, and he turns out to be terrifically perceptive. His observations are totally believable because he vividly recalls (and sometimes still indulges in) dysfunctional behavior. His ability to connect with several diversely troubled personalities sets up many humorous scenes. A convoluted, but oddly logical scheme involving Olivia, Grandma, and tickets to Godspell culminates in the boy's touching (and very funny) first date. By book's end, Joey has lost a loved one, but he has gained enough confidence, and even wisdom, to look out for himself without letting his external problems overwhelm him or hold him back. Readers who don't know Joey will have no trouble jumping right in with this book, and those who have met him in the previous books will enjoy the way "Mr. Helpful" tries to set things right in a chaotic and uniquely amusing world.Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, ORCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
In the two previous Joey Pigza books, Jack Gantos's frenetic writing style brilliantly mirrored Joey's "wired" behavior. But in this last in the trilogy, Joey's the one who has himself under control while wacky things happen all around him, and he desperately tries to help everyone from his ailing Grandma to his missing dog, his belligerent homeschooling partner, and his warring parents. Joey has never been more engaging, and while there are lots of laugh-out-loud moments, there's poignancy, too. The story is told from Joey's first-person perspective, and Gantos is the perfect voice for him. He doesn't sound like a kid; he sounds like Joey. His low-key but inflected reading makes the antics that much more plausible. Fans will be sorry to see Joey go but can be assured, as Gantos says in an afterword, that Joey IS a good kid and will be a great success. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. Gantos' funny but also heart-wrenching conclusion to the Joey Pigza trilogy offers a view of the world through the eyes of the extremely memorable boy, who struggles to control his hyperactivity. When Joey's hyperactive father roars by on his motorcycle to attract the attention of his ex-wife, Mom, who has a new boyfriend and a powerful longing for a normal life, rises to the bait with such fury that she seems to be as maniacal as Joey's dad. The most normal influence in Joey's life is, oddly enough, Joey's grandmother, who, knowing she is dying, tries to give Joey the tools he needs to survive, including forcing him to make a friend. Well aware of the chaos swirling around him, Joey copes by trying to define his world with a label marker and working hard to make friends with a belligerent blind girl. Readers may find themselves waiting for a caring adult to come along and fix everything in typical children's literature fashion, but that isn't Gantos' style. Instead, he resolves his honest, affecting trilogy by giving his protagonist the heart to continue loving people despite their sometimes terrible flaws and the perseverance to keep aiming in the right direction--no matter what the grown-ups say. No need to read the prequels to enjoy this one. Susan Dove Lempke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
What they're saying about Joey:
"Joey . . . is an impossible, contradictory, glorious creation."
-- Liz Rosenberg, The Boston Sunday Globe
"Joey isn't leading the easiest of lives, but he's a tough and triumphant kid with an absorbing story."
-- Starred, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"In Joey Pigza, Mr. Gantos has meticulously crafted the voice of a troubled kid with a solid center of goodness. Joey tells his own story, and it reads like a ride in a car without brakes."
-- Sue Corbett, Knight Ridder News Service
"Joey emerges as a sympathetic hero, and his heart of gold never loses its shine."
-- Starred, Publishers Weekly
"Readers will cheer for Joey, and for the champion in each of us."
-- Starred, School Library Journal
"Stepping into Joey Pigza's skin isn't easy . . . But it's worth the discomforting fit."
-- Deirdre Donahue, USA Today
Book Description
Joey's dad just roared into town on a motorcycle, his mom is chasing her ex-husband away with a broomstick, and his grandma's camped out on the couch behind a plastic shower curtain. What's more, Joey's chihuahua has been dognapped, and his mom insists that he be homeschooled with a mean blind girl and her super-religious mother. Welcome to Joey's world.
With his new self-assumed role as "Mr. Helpful," Joey's on a mission to make everything and everyone better. Can Joey accomplish all this or will his wild, wired behavior spin him out of control all over again?
Download Description
"Do my parents seem unusual to you?" When his dad roars into town, the sparks fly between Joey Pigza's long-separated parents. His ailing grandmother is certain that all the feuding (and flirting) will unleash a series of terrible events on the Pigza household. Fading fast, she wants Joey to find a life outside the famly, proving he will be all right once she is gone. "You know, Joey," Gandma said, "you gotta make some friends." "I have Pablo," I said. "Pablo is a dog," she replied. To put his grandmother at ease, Joey tries to make a friend of Olivia Lapp--his blind, bratty homeschooling partener--who only gets meaner the more Joey tries to please her. But Joey's not the type to give up on anyone in his life, even as his grandmother's predictions of Pigza family disaster come true. "I want to help everyone be nice. That's all I want to do. Just help. That's my whole thing now. I'm Mr. Helpful." In this final book of the Joey Pigza trilogy, Jack Gantos's acclaimed hero is attempting a breathtaking balancing act, as he tries to keep a handle on his wild, wired behavior without letting his hyperactively helpful ways spin him out of control all over again.
Card catalog description
Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema.
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