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sarahbethbrown's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book so much and found it so moving and perfect that I typed out an entire page and posted it on my blog. AND NOW I WILL COPY AND PASTE IT HERE, TOO!
“I can have good days. Entire days when I wake up and I’m calm inside like water when it’s no boiling, and I just plant my feet on the floor like every kid in America and do a sleepy walk down to the bathroom and take a nice hot shower and wash my hair and dry off and get dressed and eat breakfast and all the while thinking about what I’d like to do with my day. And then the most amazing thing to me is after I think about what I want to do, like read, or see a friend, or say something nice to Mrs. Howard, or write a poem, I actually do all that stuff. That is *amazing* to me. I think it, then I do it. This may be how everyone else operates, but this is not how I usually operate. Usually I wake up with springs popping in my head, like I’m in the middle of a pinball game where I’m the ball, and I shoot out of bed and directly to the kitchen where I ricochet around after food until by chance I snatch some toast off the counter, then go slamming off the padded stool tops like they were lighted bumpers and zing up the hall into the bathroom where I try to brush my teeth, but I brush mostly my lips and chin and I explode back out the door and across the living room and carom off the furniture until Mom gets a grip on me a wipes the toothpaste off my face and works a pill down my throat.”
“I can have good days. Entire days when I wake up and I’m calm inside like water when it’s no boiling, and I just plant my feet on the floor like every kid in America and do a sleepy walk down to the bathroom and take a nice hot shower and wash my hair and dry off and get dressed and eat breakfast and all the while thinking about what I’d like to do with my day. And then the most amazing thing to me is after I think about what I want to do, like read, or see a friend, or say something nice to Mrs. Howard, or write a poem, I actually do all that stuff. That is *amazing* to me. I think it, then I do it. This may be how everyone else operates, but this is not how I usually operate. Usually I wake up with springs popping in my head, like I’m in the middle of a pinball game where I’m the ball, and I shoot out of bed and directly to the kitchen where I ricochet around after food until by chance I snatch some toast off the counter, then go slamming off the padded stool tops like they were lighted bumpers and zing up the hall into the bathroom where I try to brush my teeth, but I brush mostly my lips and chin and I explode back out the door and across the living room and carom off the furniture until Mom gets a grip on me a wipes the toothpaste off my face and works a pill down my throat.”
bookstobarbells's review
2.0
I loved that this book felt as if it was being told from inside the brain of a child with ADHD, but that was about all I liked about this book. It was too far over the top, had way too many deep seated issues that were never covered, and used medicine as a cover for handling most of life’s issues. I had to explain to the 12 year old boys I tutor that the mother is drinking alcohol, the father may be abusive, the grandma is emotionally abusive, and the doctors just causally mention it? Plus all of this is glossed over in every teaching material I found online and it instead covered how he was an outsider. I don’t think it dealt with any of the real pressing issues and instead made him seem like a crazy kooky kid who just needed meds. Super disappointing.
kidclamp's review against another edition
5.0
This book was great, Joey Pigza dealing with ADD, or something like it, unable to keep himself still or keep up with his thoughts. Gantos really makes you understand how Joey feels and how things can get out of hand so quickly. I was really surprised as I read this book, at first thinking it was just going to be kind of funny, but as you get deeper into the story things get really serious, but fortunately it ends on a hopeful note. A great book on a difficult subject.
mom2triplets04's review against another edition
5.0
The kids and I listened to this via audio. They really enjoyed it as they were so quite while listening. It's about a 4th grade student who has some type of learning disability and has to take medication to keep him calm. He gets into lots of trouble. There is a second book which we will listen to soon.
sasha_in_a_box's review against another edition
4.0
Surprisingly dark and emotional story of a good kid with intense ADHD and shaky family history. I really felt for this kid. A good read for anyone who struggles with the disease themselves or in the family, or wants to empathize with the daily issues. While not light-hearted or for the faint of heart, this book is an important one to read.
librariandest's review against another edition
5.0
I'm just started listening to the audiobook (narrated by Gantos himself) with my almost-eight-year-old. She's finding it a little too scary because Joey is constantly hurting himself. I've read this book a few times (in 2006 and again in 2014) and always thought it was primarily funny (hilarious even), but seeing it through my daughter's eyes, I understand how it can be very intense for a young person.
I also just read the most-liked review of this book on goodreads. It's by an adult who gave it one star and said she found it disgusting. This seems to be because this book includes a sadly realistic portrayal of how a public school student with a disability from a low-income family was treated in 1998. It was too shocking and sad for her.
So both of these reactions (my child's and this adult goodreads reviewer's) are surprising to me. Maybe I went into this book with a bias because I know Jack Gantos as a funny author and speaker. Also a lot of 90s children's literature featured exaggerated reality (like [b:Maniac Magee|139463|Maniac Magee|Jerry Spinelli|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395884800l/139463._SX50_.jpg|3264295] and [b:Frindle|439173|Frindle|Andrew Clements|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344395824l/439173._SX50_.jpg|1993854]). So I think I was reacting to this book like someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
Anyway, if I keep listening to this book with my kid I'm going to have to do a lot of explaining about Special Education and ADHD and how writers of fiction create heightened worlds for comedic and dramatic effect. I'm already used to this because she loves Beverly Cleary's books and those have a ton of historical/unbelievable things she needs context to understand. I actually don't think of this as a negative, but kind of the whole point of reading. Last year we read [b:Front Desk|36127488|Front Desk (Front Desk, #1)|Kelly Yang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507986199l/36127488._SX50_.jpg|51903030] which also had upsetting parts and it sparked some really great conversations about racism, economics, and unfair policing.
I also just read the most-liked review of this book on goodreads. It's by an adult who gave it one star and said she found it disgusting. This seems to be because this book includes a sadly realistic portrayal of how a public school student with a disability from a low-income family was treated in 1998. It was too shocking and sad for her.
So both of these reactions (my child's and this adult goodreads reviewer's) are surprising to me. Maybe I went into this book with a bias because I know Jack Gantos as a funny author and speaker. Also a lot of 90s children's literature featured exaggerated reality (like [b:Maniac Magee|139463|Maniac Magee|Jerry Spinelli|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395884800l/139463._SX50_.jpg|3264295] and [b:Frindle|439173|Frindle|Andrew Clements|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344395824l/439173._SX50_.jpg|1993854]). So I think I was reacting to this book like someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
Anyway, if I keep listening to this book with my kid I'm going to have to do a lot of explaining about Special Education and ADHD and how writers of fiction create heightened worlds for comedic and dramatic effect. I'm already used to this because she loves Beverly Cleary's books and those have a ton of historical/unbelievable things she needs context to understand. I actually don't think of this as a negative, but kind of the whole point of reading. Last year we read [b:Front Desk|36127488|Front Desk (Front Desk, #1)|Kelly Yang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507986199l/36127488._SX50_.jpg|51903030] which also had upsetting parts and it sparked some really great conversations about racism, economics, and unfair policing.
allmadhere106's review against another edition
1.0
Joey has the problem of always being high stung and he can't seem to get himself to concentrate on anything. Lately, his attention disorder has been manifesting in ways where people get hurt and Joey must now go to a special school to figure out how he can improve. Joey must learn to change his behaviors, accept his home life, and he must also become accustomed to new medication.
I really didn't like this book. There was just a push for the child to constantly be medicated and the abusive homelife is hardly addressed in therapy. No one takes the time to explain to Joey that he isn't being punished, so he thinks that he's a bad kid that needs to be sent away. I learned that there are other books that are attached to this one--companion books or part of a series--and it's unclear if these issues are resolved in those installments. Either way, the professionals in his life should have explained things to him and the absence of that conversation still bothers me.
I really didn't like this book. There was just a push for the child to constantly be medicated and the abusive homelife is hardly addressed in therapy. No one takes the time to explain to Joey that he isn't being punished, so he thinks that he's a bad kid that needs to be sent away. I learned that there are other books that are attached to this one--companion books or part of a series--and it's unclear if these issues are resolved in those installments. Either way, the professionals in his life should have explained things to him and the absence of that conversation still bothers me.
mirandaipsen's review against another edition
4.0
Read this from a recommendation to get a better insight on kids with ADHD. I felt it was really insightful and really helped to put into perspective
jcpdiesel21's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings upon finishing. On one hand, I like how the story is told entirely from Joey's perspective, and seeing these events through his eyes is enlightening for readers who don't have ADHD and are unfamiliar with how it affects daily existence. I also appreciate that this book deals with some difficult topics by incorporating them into Joey's life. On the other hand, these challenging themes are dealt with on the surface level only, which is a little frustrating since it is fairly heavy material for a kids' book. Also, sometimes the story feels particularly dated, especially when it comes to Joey's experience in special education and the consequences he faces following a severe action.
lrhoads10's review against another edition
4.0
It was a pretty good book but honestly kind of depressing.