Joey Pigza wants to win! In this audio-only adventure, Jack Gantos’s beloved hero races back into kids’ hearts with a tale about running, perseverance, and life’s inevitable crashes.
Despite his beat-up old shoes and struggles with ADHD, Joey won’t let anything hold him back—after all, he’s the lightning-fast champion of schoolyard races. But when a high-speed collision leaves him with a dented head and more problems than ever, can our infectiously impulsive hero overcome his hurdles and race to the top?
In this zany and surprisingly inspiring listen, perfect for kids ages 8 and up, our chaotic hero realizes he can’t outrun his troubles. Joining him this time around in a series of hyperactive hijinks are his eccentric Granny and his ever-faithful Chihuahua, Pablo. Written and performed by the multi-talented Jack Gantos, and delivered in a wildly energetic voice, this gem is full of the hilarity and heart that made the Joey Pigza creator a Newbery Award-winning children’s book icon.
Jack Gantos is an American author of children's books renowned for his portrayal of fictional Joey Pigza, a boy with ADHD, and many other well known characters such as Rotten Ralph, Jack Henry, Jack Gantos (memoirs) and others. Gantos has won a number of awards, including the Newbery, the Newbery Honor, the Scott O'Dell Award, the Printz Honor, and the Sibert Honor from the American Library Association, and he has been a finalist for the National Book Award.
Gantos was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania to son of construction superintendent John Gantos and banker Elizabeth (Weaver) Gantos. The seeds for Jack Gantos' writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister's diary and decided he could write better than she could. Born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and raised in Barbados and South Florida, Mr. Gantos began collecting anecdotes in grade school and later gathered them into stories.
After his senior year in high school (where he lived in a welfare motel) he moved to a Caribbean island (St Croix) and began to train as a builder. He soon realized that construction was not his forté and started saving for college. While in St. Croix he met a drug smuggler and was offered a chance to make 10 000 dollars by sailing to New York with 2,000 pounds of hash. With an English eccentric captain on board they set off to the big city. Once there they hung out at the Chelsea hotel and Gantos carried on dreaming about college. Then, in Jacks own words, "The **** hit the fan" and the F.B.I. burst in on him. He managed to escape and hid out in the very same welfare motel he was living during high school. However, he saw sense and turned himself in. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which he describes in his novel -HOLE IN MY LIFE-. However, after a year and a half in prison he applied to college, was accepted. He was released from prison, entered college, and soon began his writing career.
He received his BFA and his MA both from Emerson College. While in college, Jack began working on picture books with an illustrator friend. In 1976, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph. Mr. Gantos continued writing children's books and began teaching courses in children's book writing. He developed the master's degree program in children's book writing at Emerson College in Boston. In 1995 he resigned his tenured position in order to further his writing career (which turned out to be a great decision).
He married art dealer Anne A. Lower on November 11, 1989. The couple has one child, Mabel, and they live in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Dented Head of Joey Pigza is written and narrated by Jack Gantos and it is so hilarious! It really reaches into the lives of kids of all kinds and makes it ok, not only ok but right and good funny at times! He subtly touches other issues without really going there but any kid that has experienced it would know. The biggest things he touches on is ADHD and parents in jail. He feels tainted and has no friends. But this turns out good the way he learns how to deal with his problems. The author reading his own works usually doesn't work out but in this case it sure does! Excellent!
Cute book! You are never too old to read a kids book! Fun mood booster when you need a break from adulting! You think adulting is hard? Try living with a dent in your head! ;)
I got this book for free from Netflix and decided to take the few hours to listen to it while I worked around the house...etc. The book intrigued me bc the main character has a severe ADHD challenge and I wanted to understand it better even if in a story form that I wasn’t even sure I’d like.
The protagonist Joey has a lot more than ADHD going on...he comes from a highly dysfunctional home (parents in prison) and experienced some abuse. He’s neglected even though his Granny loves him. She has her own challenges. BUT with all that being said the ADHD cane through loud and clear in the author’s writing. He had an excellent way of using similes and metaphors that brought the challenge to life for the reader. It was filtered through with some of his family challenges but I felt you could still how he processed it all through the lens of ADHD.
He was super attached to his dog also and bc of my experience (even limited) with ADHD children this didn’t surprise me a bit. It seemed as if Joey inhaled at the beginning of his day and just couldn’t exhale until he was finally asleep...and I know these challenges to be very real also.
It isn’t that this book will provide everyone’s experience with ADHD or that it’s a very sophisticated way of showing how a child may experience it...but it does give you a peek and for that I felt it was worth it. I would recommend it to parents with children who struggle with ADHD to preview first...I don’t know if it would be helpful or hurtful in that scenario...but it is written for children.
This is an Audible, audio-only adventure, narrated by Jack himself. Our beloved Joey Pigza races back into our lives with a tale about running, perseverance, and life’s inevitable crashes. Despite his beat-up old shoes and struggles with ADHD, Joey won’t let anything hold him back – after all, he’s the lightning-fast champion of schoolyard races. But when a high-speed collision leaves him with a dented head times three and more problems than ever, we see the our impulsive hero race to the “top.” This is a great listen, perfect for kids ages 8 and up, as our chaotic hero realizes he can’t outrun his troubles. Joining him this time around in a series of hyperactive hijinks are his eccentric Granny and his ever-faithful Chihuahua, Pablo.
4 1/2 stars. I really liked Granny how she kept feeding Pablo Peparoni and saying that it gave him extra pep and other things she shouldn't have. I liked how when Joey went to get Pablo for the Vet and he had the lottery money and Joey only paid 20 because he was saving the rest for Chinese take out. I like how he got a routine going by waking up and running, then doing his summer school, then running some more then going to the Vet to clean cages. I though it was really cool how he could run so fast.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book is beautifully constructed. Whoa... what a lesson to learn from a young person. It certainly takes me back to the days when my voice barely matters. Amazingly done!!!!
This surely will be the book that could change the lives of some adults. People are too busy growing up and chasing the great things. They usually forget they were once kids who look up at the stars and laugh.
I typically would not have included a "book" like this because I read it with my kids on Audible BUT I wanted to get the word out about this series for parents of children with ADHD. The main character has ADHD (so does my oldest son) and it has been hard finding middle grade reads with main characters he can relate to so specifically. I thought it was a cute story and both of my kids enjoyed it - it kept them both quiet in the car for an hour and a half one way and that is impressive!
My first encounter with this series. I sympathised and liked the titled character immediately. Despite his disability, he was resilient, intelligent and had a heart of gold. It made me interested to listen to more of his stories although with some trepidation because his life seemed full of disasters and problems.
such a fan of this audio book ... glad i found it. fun times! i hope to find more from Jack Gantos soon enough! Audible Original for some reason tend to be really great in my opinion ... does that mean they take more time to do it up right or what?? well done.
It was free so I started listening to it. I won't be finishing it. If you really want to try it, pre-listen this before deciding if it's appropriate for your child.
A fun way to help kids understand about kids who have challenges like ADD and ADHD. I wish I could have read this when my kids were little. Thanks Audible for the free Audible Original!
Chapter after chapter of depressing child abuse. Why Joey is not in foster care by now is beyond me.
No one cares about this kid. He lives in filth with a neglectful, abusive, mentally ill grandmother. His coach is also abusive and barely apologetic in a bizarre turn around halfway through the book. In any school district, a man who races a child and "hip checks" them would be fired.
His drug addicted, alcoholic, abusive parents are in jail as well, and he has too much trauma in his life to maintain friendships, and therefore spends the entire book alone and suffering from low self-esteem. AND NO ONE HELPS HIM. One hapoy moment at the end does not ot make up for hours of listening to this poor kid's misery.
I have no idea why anyone would mark this as "delightful" or "funny" unless they were not actually listening to the book. It is not like the previous entries in the series, which had these issues but in a more subtle, less in- your-face way. I have known too many children like Joey for this to be enjoyable. This book is not for children under 13.
2018 - Book #53 of 100 : This was a freebie on Audible, and it looked adorable. I have not read any other Joey Pigza books, but this one was heartbreakingly good and left me weirdly emotional. I struggled with my ADHD as a kid and I still struggle with it, in different ways, as an adult. While my experience and symptoms were/are different than Joey's, his descriptions of his symptoms and the ways he tries to cope with them were so familiar. His story of how he tells everything to his dog, and how much the dog helps him emotionally had me nearly crying. It is ridiculous to say, as an adult, that a children's book made me feel not so alone in the struggle. It also gave me hope that one of the kids who read this book will also feel not so alone after reading about Joey. Also, the situation with his home life made me want to just give him a hug. I wanted slap all the adults around him who do nothing to help this kid who clearly needs it.
PS-The very last chapter was so amazing that I listened to it twice.
My kids and I listened together. This is our first Joey Pigza book and it’s available on audible for free. In this book he is trying to win a race that the boys and girls club is putting on. It was laugh out loud funny! I often said “ewww” to some of the things Joey did. Haha! So great! My boys and I love books that make us laugh.
Some reviews complained that Joey is neglected by his grandmother and bullied by a girl from school, and yes he was bullied, but to me this book was more that those two things. Joey had a good attitude and kept his spirits up when things didn’t go his way (which is often), and he was nice to the girl that bullied him, and he persevered through many things. The humor kind of reminds me of the show My Name Is Earl in regards to the ridiculous situations on that show that are so crazy they are funny.
Joey has ADHD and his parents are in jail and his grandmother is left to raise him. We plan to listen to books 1-5 in order to get the full background of Joey Pigza and his loyal dog Pablo!
My son, who has a brother with autism and may have some hyperactivity going on really enjoyed this book. He had some trouble with the tangents that the main character goes on while telling his tale. He kept asking if this was the real story or one of Joey’s stories. My other son liked it but it didn’t grab him. I liked how this not only gives kids another perspective on the way others think but also painted a picture of a very different life. Joeys parents are in jail. He lives with his grandma. He is picked on a lot. He also gets concussions that are never seen too by doctors. He lives in poverty. Joey never complains and never apologizes for the way he lives. It just is what it is. My 7 year old really liked the book but I think he may get more out of it in another year, so we will reread it at that time. Parents may want to read this title first as there is a lot of poor treatment of this kid.
Sons rating: 5⭐ (Masterpiece) My rating: 3.5⭐ (Really Liked It)
I'm letting my sons' rating overrule my rating as this book wasn't written for me and I think he's better suited to rate this. Here's what he says:
It was really good when Pablo (Joey's dog) was his teacher. And taught him how to get more stamina and speed (for the race they were training for). My favorite thing about the book was when he stopped at the start of the race when Pablo ate pepperoni and it makes his tummy achy, so then he had to stop and then everyone zoomed past him. And then he ran all the way to the finish line and And I want to read the whole series now!
Well there you have it! Not sure I can top that! I had fun listening to this with him. There were some funny parts where we both laughed out loud. If you have a kid that wants to get faster at running, this might be a good book to pick up.
This novel was short, sweet and very funny kids book! The author did an amazing job helping the reader understand the mind and emotions of a young boy with ADHD. When I started this book, I didn't realize it was #6 in a series, but it didn't matter, this book stands alone. Now I am curious about the other books. I actually listen to this book while driving and I highly recommend the audio version. "In this zany and surprisingly inspiring listen, perfect for kids ages 8 and up, our chaotic hero realizes he can’t outrun his troubles. Joining him this time around in a series of hyperactive hijinks are his eccentric Granny and his ever-faithful Chihuahua, Pablo. Written and performed by the multi-talented Jack Gantos, and delivered in a wildly energetic voice, this gem is full of the hilarity and heart that made the Joey Pigza creator a Newbery Award-winning children’s book icon."
Gantos provides a warm, funny, empowering story for all ages. Gantos’ Joey Pigza will warm your heart and have you rooting for him and his pup, Pablo, from start to finish.
Joey Pigza is a runner, a fast runner, one of the fastest. Next to running, he loves winning, his grandma, and his pup, Pablo. A summer race is the perfect concoction to gloat his spoils in running and winning. But after a series of head collisions and mishaps, Joey Pigza finds himself stuck in 5th grade summer school with the one teacher he despises, who is also the running coach. Joey Pigza teams up with his pup, Pablo, and together they learn to believe in themselves.
Joey Pigza is back again! Joey won't let anything hold him back in this new story about running, perseverance, and life's inevitable struggles. Joey is still struggling with his ADHD, but he has gained tools to help him overcome his struggles and, after all, he's just a kid who wants to please his Granny and his teachers and run faster than anyone else in the town 15K summer race! But when a high speed collision with a metal door leaves Joey with a dented head, Joey has a lot to overcome, in the race and summer school. I am a big fan of Joey Pigza because I'm a teacher and also because my son has ADHD, and he relates a lot to Joey. Jack Gantos performed this addition to the Joey Pigza world, and he did a great job. The story was wonderful and light but also dealt with some hard issues that kids are dealing with everyday. Joey uses a lot of coping techniques that real kids can use.
I can’t believe this book came from Gantos’ discarded notes - it’s his best Joey Pigza yet. It’s still as funny as the others, but the reader gets to see a wiser and more empathetic side of Joey - which upon further reflection has been there all along. I really wish this were in print because if it was I’d give it to every kid I know whose parents don’t always to the right/responsible thing. If it were to be the last in the series (and if it is... Mr Gantos, with all due respect did you ever read MISERY?) it would complete Joey’s arc to a mature young man who’s going to do well in life. However, I’d still like to see more of his antics!
This charming, funny story of a middle school kid with ADHD almost broke my heart. He's been dealt a really bad hand (parents in jail, so poor he wears shoes 2 sizes too small with his toes sticking out, etc.) but he's trying so hard to make it all work, telling himself crazy creative stories to cope. It's funny, it's heartwarming, and it's surprisingly deep underneath all the excitement of a boy trying to win a running race.
This was my first time reading a Joey Pigza book but it definitely won’t be the last. I’ve read several of Jack Gantos other books and enjoyed them and this book was no exception. This book tackled some tough subjects in a humorous way but also with kindness and understanding. Joey is a thoroughly lovable character who makes the reader root for him and wish him the best. Great story that gets you right in the feels.
We listened to this audiobook together as a family. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially the kids. It was funny, taught perseverance, showed Joey dealing with other people who didn't like him and overcoming problems while learning lessons. The author narrated the story, and that doesn't always work well, but it did with this book.
I liked the voice of the ADHD young man and found his honest look at the world very interesting. I have a son who sometimes struggles with paying attention so this helped me to understand some of the things that may be going through his mind. However, I didn't like that the adults in his life either abused him, or did nothing about the abuse. He needs a hero.
I loved the lovably imperfect protagonist for whom nothing really goes right. My 10-year-old really related to a lot of what he said even though their challenges are very different-- such a fun recognition of what makes us unique but also makes us all human. It was funny and heartwarming and accessible in all the right ways.
I have read about half of the books in the Joey Pigza series. This little story, from the notebooks of Jack Gantos, recorded especially for Audible, was laugh-out-loud funny.
What makes the Joey Pigza books so special is the window Gantos gives us into the thinking of kids with ADHD. This book presents children with challenges deftly and authentically.
Joey Pigza is a boy who has every reason to hate life but that's not who he is. He takes his fears and disappointments and turns them into fuel to run. This is a fun little story about overcoming challenges, including hitting your head hard enough to dent it. It's full of humor and imagination. You'll find yourself rooting for Joey and his dog, Pablo, by the end!
Oh Joey, such a sweet kid with so much shit on his shoulders! Here he literally runs full speed to glory despite the odd locked door and other obstacle. Jack Gantos does a good job reading this short-novel-length set of outakes from the print episodes.