The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza

Starred review from July 28, 2014
“It is so much easier to be in trouble all the time because then everyone wants to help you,” laments Joey Pigza in this fifth and final volume of his chronicles. Suffering from postpartum depression, Joey’s mother checks into the hospital, leaving Joey to care for Carter Junior. Meanwhile, Joey’s estranged father, sporting a face like Frankenstein after a botched facelift, is trying to kidnap baby Carter. Joey’s life is so sad—his mother has hidden his meds, cockroaches roam the kitchen, and there’s nothing to eat but pizza, which he pays for (illegally) with food stamps—that readers may fervently hope the police do show up, jail his parents, and put the Pigza boys in foster care. Collectively, the Pigza series is a poignant examination of modern dysfunction, a window into how kids in tough family situations come to believe they are damaged and incapable of redemption. “I guess once a nail is bent there is no way to make it perfectly straight again,” Joey concludes. Though warm-hearted Joey demonstrates tremendous growth and maturity, it’s uncertain he’ll ever be able to overcome his childhood. Ages 10–14.

Starred review from July 15, 2014
Joey takes on his toughest set of challenges yet in this heart-rending, triumphant series finale.Challenge one: His manic depressive mom has hidden his meds. Challenge two: She's abruptly checked herself into the hospital, leaving him in charge of a cluttered, roach-infested house and his baby brother, Carter Junior. Challenge three: His no-account dad (still with a Frankenstein face from the previous episode's botched plastic surgery) is lurking about the neighborhood looking for a chance to snatch Carter Junior and run. Moreover, Joey's brave efforts to stay "pawzzz-i-tive," to be "the mature Joey, the think-before-you-speak Joey, the better-than-Dad Joey, the hold-the-fort-for-Mom Joey, the keep-the-baby-safe Joey" are both aided and complicated by the return of Olivia-as he puts it, "the meanest cute blind girl I have ever loved." Tucking enough real and metaphorical keys into Joey's adrenalized narrative to create a motif, Gantos also trots out other significant figures from his protagonist's past on the way to a fragile, hard-won but nonetheless real reunion. The conclusion invites readers to stop by: "There is always an extra slice waiting for you at the House-of-Pigza"-with delectable toppings aplenty.Dark, funny and pawzzz-i-tively brilliant. (Fiction. 10-13)

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Starred review from September 1, 2014

Gr 5-7-The final "Joey Pigza" novel begins as Joey narrates his present situation back in his "roachy row house on Plum St." He is without a medical patch to treat his ADHD because his mom can't remember where she hid them. Joey's father has gotten a botched face-lift and runs away again. When Joey receives a call at school from his frantic mother pleading for him to come home because she's afraid she will hurt Carter Junior, Joey rushes home, afraid of what he might find. Things go from bad to worse as Joey tries to comfort his mom. She winds up checking herself into a hospital for depression, leaving middle-schooler Joey to care for his baby brother. Woeful metaphors describe Joey's dysfunctional predicament and ensuing altercations with his dad, who is stalking the family in order to kidnap the baby. Joey takes responsibility for his condition, as well as challenges his father to do the same. This may be the darkest volume yet in Gantos's series. Readers who have read the previous books and come to know and love Joey will appreciate the irony and emotional punch of his final triumph. Give this groundbreaking, heartbreaking title to readers mature and sensitive enough to understand the author's black humor and seriousness.-D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2014
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* The fifth and (ostensibly) final book in the multi-award-winning Joey Pigza chronicle features all of the drama, havoc, and heart readers have come to expect, dread, and love. Joey is back in his roachy row house with his mother and new baby brother, Carter Jr., as the family works to find some normalcy following the tragicomic chaos perpetrated by his now-absent father. But it's not long before Fran, struggling with postpartum depression, checks herself into a hospital, leaving Joey to take care of the baby alone. Gantos piles on the problems, defining them in searing, heartrending detail; for all the peril of Joey's circumstances, it is his parents' brutal honesty that leaves welts. Still, Joey's indomitable spirit, grounded in his fierce, tender devotion to baby Carter and expressed through Gantos' inimitable comic tone, shows the fragile adults around him just what it looks like to be the man of the house. The book, with the series, closes on a fitting note of tenuous, plausible hope. High-Demand Backstory: The conclusion of Gantos' beloved and much-lauded series is big news, and Joey's fans of all ages will want to grab their copies as soon as possible.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2015
Left alone with his new baby brother, irrepressible Joey takes seriously his mother's admonition that he be "man of the house." His blind friend Olivia helps care for Carter Junior and fend off Joey's estranged and unhinged father's attempts to kidnap the baby. As in the four previous books, events are fast, furious, and frequently funny in this propulsively written final story.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from November 1, 2014
The irrepressible Joey Pigza is back in his "roachy row house on Plum Street," living his "whole wired past, present, and future all at the same time." Left alone with his new baby brother when their mother, suffering from postpartum depression, checks herself into the hospital, Joey takes seriously her admonition that he be the "man of the house." He's in the midst of a top-to-bottom housecleaning when his blind friend Olivia arrives unexpectedly; though dealing with her own demons, Olivia assists in caring for placid Carter Junior (a profound contrast to the frenetic Joey) and fending off Joey's estranged and completely unhinged father's attempts to kidnap the baby. As in the four previous books (beginning with Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, rev. 11/98), events are fast, furious, and frequently funny, even as Joey considers them in his inimitable introspective way. "Being alone is free. Being poor is free. Being afraid is free. Being ignored is free. Having crummy parents is free. I had to stop thinking that way because even torturing myself with sad thoughts was free." As for those parents, while adult readers may cringe at their behavior, young readers are more likely to be curious and fascinated. Certainly, readers of all ages are going to cheer Joey on as he heroically deals with one over-the-top situation after another. By the time this final book of the series -- as elegantly and propulsively written as the others -- draws to a close, you know that no matter what the future holds, Joey's inner strength and smart, sweet nature will prevail. monica edinger

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2014
The irrepressible Joey Pigza is back in his "roachy row house on Plum Street," living his "whole wired past, present, and future all at the same time." Left alone with his new baby brother when their mother, suffering from postpartum depression, checks herself into the hospital, Joey takes seriously her admonition that he be the "man of the house." He's in the midst of a top-to-bottom housecleaning when his blind friend Olivia arrives unexpectedly; though dealing with her own demons, Olivia assists in caring for placid Carter Junior (a profound contrast to the frenetic Joey) and fending off Joey's estranged and completely unhinged father's attempts to kidnap the baby. As in the four previous books (beginning with Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, rev. 11/98), events are fast, furious, and frequently funny, even as Joey considers them in his inimitable introspective way. "Being alone is free. Being poor is free. Being afraid is free. Being ignored is free. Having crummy parents is free. I had to stop thinking that way because even torturing myself with sad thoughts was free." As for those parents, while adult readers may cringe at their behavior, young readers are more likely to be curious and fascinated. Certainly, readers of all ages are going to cheer Joey on as he heroically deals with one over-the-top situation after another. By the time this final book of the series -- as elegantly and propulsively written as the others -- draws to a close, you know that no matter what the future holds, Joey's inner strength and smart, sweet nature will prevail. monica edinger

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)