Gantos, Jack. 1998. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Jack Gantos, self-proclaimed screw-up and author of many books for children including the Rotten Ralph series, introduces readers to Joey Pigza. Through realistic dialog and Mr. Gantos' terrific and entertaining narrative of Joey's thoughts, we learn that Joey Pigza is out of control; like his father before him, and his grandmother before that. Joey cannot make his brain stop. And, once he puts into action the ideas his brain forms, he is not able to stop himself; no matter how crazy or dangerous that idea might be. Again and again he swallows the house key that hangs on a string around his neck and pulls it back up his throat. On a class trip he eats an entire pie and, his brain racing from too much sugar, decides to climb to the topmost rafter of a huge barn. The final straw comes when, running across the classroom with the "teacher" scissors, he trips and accidentally snips off the tip of a classmate's nose. Because he is a danger to himself and others, Joey is sent to "special ed" and warned it is up to him whether or not he will ever return to a regular classroom. Any kid who has ever struggled with a problem at home or in school will relate to likable and smart Joey Pigza. Readers will cheer for him as he struggles to come to terms with problems he can fix and problems over which he has no control.
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