Status
Available
Series
Publication
Square Fish (2014), Edition: Reprint, 224 pages
Library's review
As if Joey didn’t get into enough trouble in his unforgettable debut, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998), Gantos has him wig out again in this sad, scary, blackly funny sequel. His hyperactivity under control thanks to new meds, Joey is looking forward to a six-week stay with his father Carter,
-Kirkus Review
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hoping for some bonding. Unfortunately, his mother’s warning: “. . . he can be, you know, wired like you, only he’s bigger.” understates the case. As a father, not to say a human being, Carter turns out to be appallingly dysfunctional: irresponsible, utterly self-centered, domineering, callous, and ominously short-fused. Smart enough to see through his father’s loud assertions that he’s turned over a new leaf, Joey nonetheless struggles to please, even when Carter flushes Joey’s medication down the toilet, insisting that real men only need willpower to solve their personal problems. Joey tries to tough it out, hoping (despite bitter experience) that this time he won’t go spinning off. Swept along by Joey’s breathless narrative, readers will share his horrified fascination as, bit by bit, he watches the bad old habits and behavior come back. Joey’s emphysemic Grandma, alternating drags on a cigarette with whiffs of oxygen as she trundles about the neighborhood in a shopping cart, and his Chihuahua Pablo, who survives both being locked in a glove compartment and having his ear pierced by a dart, provide the closest thing to comic relief here. The situation takes a dangerous turn when Joey eggs Carter into a wild rage; fortunately, his mother is just a phone call away, waiting in the wings to bail him out. Carter is truly frightening, a vision of what Joey could grow up to be, did he not possess the inner honesty to acknowledge his limitations (eventually), and caring adults to help him. A tragic tale in many ways, but a triumph too. (Fiction. 11-13)-Kirkus Review
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Subjects
Awards
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Intermediate — 2004)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (2000)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Grades 3-5 — 2002)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Junior — 2003)
Newbery Medal (Honor Book — 2001)
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (Nominee)
Nēnē Award (Nominee — 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2005)
The White Ravens (2001)
NCTE Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K—Grade 6 (13th Edition: 1999-2001)
Notable Children's Book (2001)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
ISBN
9781250061676