Joey Pigza Loses Control

Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control. Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2000. Tr. $16.00 ISBN 0-374-39989-1

What’s it about?

Joey Pigza meets his father, who abandoned him when he was in kindergarten, and stays with him for the summer. Joey is eager to please his father, but has Carter really changed?

Find out more: Joey Pigza, who we met in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, is still wired, but faring much better with his new medication. He and his beloved Chihuahua mix, Pablo, go visit his father for six weeks during the summer. Joey’s dad, Carter, abandoned him several years ago. He struggles with A.D.D., much like Joey, and alcoholism. Carter is bright-eyed with excitement, though, because he has turned his life around. He has a new girlfriend, is coaching a boy’s baseball team, and has a steady job.  Joey, however, notices that his dad talks and talks and talks without allowing response. He drinks one beer, then two (because the first one got lonely), then sneaks the rest of his girlfriend’s beer. This is not a big deal, though; beer is “soda pop for grown-ups.” Joey’s grandmother (the one that raised him, berated him and locked him in a fridge once upon a time) warns Joey that Carter really hasn’t changed.  In fact, Carter goads Joey into throwing out his medication patches, telling him that it is a crutch to take medication.

Joey Pigza Loses Control is bleaker than Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. The alcoholism of Joey’s mother in the first book seemed much more under control than that of Carter.  There are some scarily observant moments from Joey, such as the time that he felt that he was a different Joey with different adults. He feels like taking risks when with this father, whose edgy energy makes Joey feel more wired. There are a lot less laughs in this sequel than in the first book.  Not only is Joey on the edge, but his father is trying to push him over it, insisting that controlling Joey’s ADD is mind over matter. In Joey Pigza Loses Control, Joey is out of control, but the adults in his life help him to stay safe. With the exception of Joey’s grandmother, all the adults had his best interests in mind. In Joey Pigza Loses Control, the real out of control person is Carter, who destabilizes Joey and makes his approval conditional on Joey’s winning pitching record. The chaos Joey experiences is frightening, but more frightening is the knowledge of what his ex-con alcoholic father might be capable of. Recommend this book to fans of gritty realistic fiction. This book is not a stand-alone. Reading the first book is necessary to understand why Joey needs his patches, and the back-story of Joey’s grandmother, mother and father.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Problem Novels

Reading level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-9

Subjects: Attention-Deficit Disorder, Parents, Relationships, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Baseball, Father-son relationships

Awards:

Newbery Honor, 2001

ALA Notable Children’s Book, 2001

Read-alikes:

Crawford’s Carter Finally Gets It

Van Draanen’s Swear to Howdy

Characters:

Joey Pigza—the protagonist, who wants to give his father a second chance

Carter—Joey’s father, who makes a re-appearance in Joey’s life, and claims to have turned his life around

Fran—Joey’s mother, who is nervous about leaving Joey with his father

Leezy—Carter’s new girlfriend

Grandma—Joey’s Grandmother, now ill with emphysema, although she persists to smoke.

Series information:

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998)

What Would Joey Do? (2002)

I am Not Joey Pigza (2007)