Joey Pigza Loses Control!

It was during recess duty on an observation day when I saw a young boy reading this colourful book. Now, seeing a fourth grader reading in school is not an unusual thing but it was recess time! While all the other students where playing games and engaging in questionable behaviour this young man had planted himself in the back of the room with this book. The first thing that came to my mind was that I had to read it to see what it was all about. I never had a chance to talk to the boy because that was not the class I was observing in but my curiosity got the better of me. The next day I went to the library and decided to explore the world of Joey Pigza.

I noticed that there were 4 books about Joey written by Jack Gantos but I wanted to read this one. It is the second one in the series. I started reading without looking at the reviews or the summary. I HATE that they put summaries on books. I noticed in children's novels that they basically give away the entire story! So, with much self control, I decided to just dive right in.

Just a few paragraphs in and I knew why the boy was reading it. This Joey character is totally relatable. The book starts with Joey asking his mom question after question, most of them silly and unnecessary leading to some very funny conversations. We soon learn that Joey has ADD and will be spending the summer at his fathers, whom he hasn't seen in years. His father suffers from the same disorder but is not medicated. Joey on the other hand wears a patch with medicine in it to keep him clam. It's when his father get drunk and decides Joey does not need the patch anymore  Joey "loses control".

I really enjoyed reading this book because of the hilarious conversations and situations Joey often found himself in. But, on a deeper level it dives into the realities that some children have to face in their everyday lives. One valuable issue that was explored is dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder. ADD interferes with the learning process because it reduces the child's ability to pay attention (Canadian Mental Health Organization). Many children can pick up this book and find themselves in Joey seeing that 1 in 20 children are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. (Sanghavi, 2005). Even if the reader does not have the condition it can aid in giving them a better understanding on what some of their classmates have to go though. Reading this book could not have come at a better time because a few weeks ago we had a guest speaker in our exceptionalities class who has ADHD. He told us about his life story and how hard it was to control his behaviour.

Another less obvious problem Joey has to deal with is his fathers alcoholism. Although we often tend to turn a blind eye, many children have to deal with parents who abuse alcohol. I would have liked Gantos to dive deeper into this issue because, on the surface, the characters in the story did next to nothing to help Carter (Joey's father) deal with it. Joey and his family would often mention how they did not like how he drank but a solution was not posed or considered.

Overall I think this book can be a very valuable learning tool. It is important, however, to be aware of the sensitive issues it confronts. I would be sure to consider the emotions that could arise from students who may have ADD or even an unstable family life before using it in my classroom.