What Would Joey Do? [Hardcover]

Jack Gantos (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Joey Pigza Books

Sequel to Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor Book

Are they flirting or fighting? This is Joey Pigza's question when the fireworks suddenly start to explode between his long-separated mom and dad, whom he's never really had a chance to see together. The more out of control his parents get, the less in control Joey feels and the more he wants to help make things better. But Joey's ailing tell-it-like-it-is grandmother wants her grandson to see it like it is with his unpredictable parents. Knowing that she is fading fast, she needs Joey to hurry up and show that he can break the Pigza family mold by making a friend in the outside world. The only potential candidate, however, is Olivia Lapp -- Joey's blind homeschooling partner, who brags that she is "blind as a brat" and acts meaner to Joey the more desperate he gets for her friendship -- even if Joey senses there's more to her than meets the eye.

In this dazzling episode, Jack Gantos's acclaimed hyperactive hero discovers that settling down isn't good for anything if he can't find a way to stop the people he cares about from winding him up all over again.

 

What Would Joey Do? is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (October 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374399867
• ISBN-13: 978-0374399863
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,451,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Gantos has written novels for adults, young adults, and middle grade readers, as well as over twenty books for primary readers, including twelve titles chronicling the misadventures of Rotten Ralph. He lives in Santa Fe, NM.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A engaging story told through the eyes of "Mr. Helpful.", November 20, 2002

By 

MyParenTime.com "myparentimesfamily" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: What Would Joey Do? (Hardcover)

When I first began reading this book, I was immmediately drawn in by the main character, a boy named Joey Pigza. Joey leads what appears to be a complicated childhood -- his parents are divorced & for a time his mother moved out and left him with his aging grandmother. Not only does his grandmother smoke too much, she speaks often of death and dying. Joey's only "friend" besides his dog, is a blind girl named Olivia who is always getting him into trouble. Joey's father doesn't make his life any easier -- he's constantly riding around the neighborhood on his motorcycle starting fights with his mother. Talk about a dysfunctional family! It's a wonder that Joey only needs a med patch for his hyperactivity disorder!*

You would think that this is all too much for a kid to handle -- I do! But throughout the book, Joey manages to maintain strength and perserverance. Joey's qualitites include honesty and living life with a little humor. In his neverending quest to help others, Joey learns to help himself.

MyParenTime.com recommends "What Would Joey Do?" - I couldn't wait to read more of Joey's antics and see how he survived his next crisis. Even if you haven't read the previous two books in this trilogy, you won't want to miss this one.

*Caution: Parents should read up on this book so they can decide whether they feel it is appropriate for their child to read. Includes questionable behaviors, situations and medicating for hyperactivity disorder.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a hyperactive child's refreshing look at life, October 11, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Would Joey Do? (Hardcover)

Dad is back in Lancaster, Pennsylvania causing problems for poor Joey Pigza, who worries that his dad Carter returned by roaring motorcycle to abduct him. However, he revises his theory to that of his father using him because he wants to either irritate or get close to Joey's mother. Joey's grandmother knows the world is coming to an end perhaps because of her emphysema, but more likely because Carter, who drives her nuts, is back.

Due to the game of my kid is better, smarter, or whatever than your kid, Joey finds himself, at is mother's insistence, joining Olivia Lapp at home schooling. With the urging of his "dying" grandma, Joey tries to befriend the sight-challenged Olivia, but his bratty teammate just wants to keep him in trouble. Between her and his family, Joey learns why a dog is a boy's best friend and wonders if hyperactivity out of control is better than trying to relate to these normal maniacs.

Apparently WHAT WOULD JOEY DO? is the final novel of the JP trilogy to the dismay of this reviewer because this tale, like its predecessors, is a refreshing look at life from the perspective of a preadolescent child coping with hyperactivity. The support cast is a distressing yet delightful group of lunatics, but the story line belongs to the title character, who makes reading fun. A personal plea to Mr. Gantos: please turn Joey into a teenager with hormones running amok because he is too good an individual to be shelved.

Harriet Klausner

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Humorous misadventures of an ADHD child, October 15, 2002

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Would Joey Do? (Hardcover)

"What Would Joey Do?" is part of the continuing saga of Joey Pigza, a young boy with ADHD. In this book he is ready to try being "Mr. Helpful" and focus his energy is positive manners. The problem is figuring out how he can help everyone while still moving forward with his life. His parents fight regularly and engage in dysfunctional actions, his homeschool partner is a blind girl who is full of mischief, and her fundamentalist mother has a total inability to deal with reality as every contact is focused on "What Would Jesus Do". His Grandma wants him to have a good friend other than his dog and seems to be the only one really concerned about the Joey within. However, she is dying and won't be there for him very long.

A real survivor, Joey's story is one of struggling and perseverance that pays off in the end. A story with several twists and turns it can be humorous reading. The greatest value of this book would be for parents to read the book and use it as a springboard for discussion of kids with ADHD. It teaches some things about children with ADHD as well as some aspects of how to deal with them. However, the book should be used as a catalyst for family discussion to prevent misconceptions. Before writing this review I let two fourth and fifth graders read the book to see what they thought of it. I found that they were getting some wrong impression from the book. It seemed that they thought that Joey's antics were in large part due to his family problems and that kids with ADHD all had dysfunctional families. Joey is a kid who tries as best he can to do the right thing and struggles through his problems to rise above them and that is a good story, just be careful of inappropriate inferences that children can make. It is a great platform for opening up a discussion about children with ADHD.