Starred Review Joey's life has improved since Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998); patches containing his good meds control his hyperactivity, and though he would never be mistaken for a calm child (well illustrated by the incident when he accidentally pierces his dog's ear with a dart), he is usually able to stop and think before he gets into trouble. Joey isn't crazy about spending time with the father he has never met, but he hopes that his Dad will love me. Carter Pigza is wired just like Joey, but the patch he wears is for nicotine, and he regularly peels it off to smoke. He likes to think deep thoughts while gazing at the Humpty Dumpty at the miniature golf course late at night, and he comes to the conclusion that both he and Joey need to do the manly thing and get rid of their patches. Joey remembers all too well how he felt before he got his medicine, but he tries hard to make his dad proud. In tremendously poignant scenes, he struggles valiantly to do what his mother has told him: think just one thought at a time. But as his medicine wears off, he gradually loses control. Gantos has given Joey a remarkably vivid personality, and, blending irrepressible humor with a powerful depiction of a child's longing for normalcy, he has written a dead-on portrayal of a young person assessing the often self-serving behavior of the adults who control his life. Few children these days don't know someone wrestling with ADHD; meeting up with Joey is a fine way to gain insight into the problems hyper children face. But the story is more than message. Ganto's skillful pacing, sly humor, and in-depth characterization make it a truly memorable read.

First introduced in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, Gantos's hyperactive hero Joey Pigza has not lost any of his liveliness, but after undergoing therapy and a stint in special ed., he now can exercise a reasonable amount of self-controlDprovided he takes his meds. His mother has reluctantly agreed to let him spend the summer three hours from home with his father, an alcoholic who, so he claims, has taken steps to turn his life around. Readers will sight trouble ahead long before Joey's optimistic perception of his father grows blurry. Mr. Pigza is at least as """"wired"""" as the old Joey, and when he resorts to his drinking habits and becomes belligerent, Joey (who still wants to win his father's favor) feels scared. Then Mr. Pigza, telling Joey his medicine patches are a """"crutch"""" that Joey doesn't need, summarily flushes them down the toilet: """"You are liberated... You are your own man, in control of your own life,"""" he announces. Joey is torn between wanting to call his mom immediately and sticking with his father. """"Even though I knew he was wrong,"""" Joey says, """"he was my dad, and I wanted him to be right."""" Like its predecessor, this high-voltage, honest novel mixes humor, pain, fear and courage with deceptive ease. Struggling to please everyone even as he sees himself hurtling toward disaster, Joey emerges as a sympathetic hero, and his heart of gold never loses its shine. Ages 10-up. (Sept.)

Joey Pigza is on a more even keel, thanks to "good meds" for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Spending the summer with his father, a bigger version of his "wired" self, Joey finds himself ill-prepared to cope with his self-destructive and alcoholic parent. As in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, the story's tension and sadness are tempered by Joey's often humorous, sometimes hilarious, narrative.

As if Joey didn't get into enough trouble in his unforgettable debut, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998), Gantos has him wig out again in this sad, scary, blackly funny sequel. His hyperactivity under control thanks to new meds, Joey is looking forward to a six-week stay with his father Carter, hoping for some bonding. Unfortunately, his mother's warning: ". . . he can be, you know, wired like you, only he's bigger ." understates the case. As a father, not to say a human being, Carter turns out to be appallingly dysfunctional: irresponsible, utterly self-centered, domineering, callous, and ominously short-fused. Smart enough to see through his father's loud assertions that he's turned over a new leaf, Joey nonetheless struggles to please, even when Carter flushes Joey's medication down the toilet, insisting that real men only need willpower to solve their personal problems. Joey tries to tough it out, hoping (despite bitter experience) that this time he won't go spinning off. Swept along by Joey's breathless narrative, readers will share his horrified fascination as, bit by bit, he watches the bad old habits and behavior come back. Joey's emphysemic Grandma, alternating drags on a cigarette with whiffs of oxygen as she trundles about the neighborhood in a shopping cart, and his Chihuahua Pablo, who survives both being locked in a glove compartment and having his ear pierced by a dart, provide the closest thing to comic relief here. The situation takes a dangerous turn when Joey eggs Carter into a wild rage; fortunately, his mother is just a phone call away, waiting in the wings to bail him out. Carter is truly frightening, a vision of what Joey could grow up to be, did he not possess the inner honesty to acknowledge his limitations (eventually), and caring adults to help him. A tragic tale in many ways, but a triumph too. (Fiction. 11-13)

Gr 4-8-At the end of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Farrar, 1998), this endearing, but incredibly challenging kid was adjusting to his new medicine patches for his ADHD. Now he is flung from the frying pan into the fire when he visits his father and grandmother for the summer. Both adults suffer from hyperactivity, which is further aggravated by their distorted senses of reality; his grandmother's deteriorating health and his father's drinking provide a perfect recipe for disaster. Joey's dad is an initially appealing mixture of high spirits, unpredictability, and good times. He instructs the boy on the essence of life through his interpretations of the characters at Storybook Land and the strategies he applies as a Little League coach. When Carter realizes his son's potential as a pitcher, though, not even his sensible girlfriend can control him. Deciding that Joey should be self-reliant, he flushes the patches down the toilet and turns him loose in downtown Pittsburgh for a day. As his father's behavior slides, Joey finds himself in the driver's seat of the car, as well as of his self-determination. Readers will be drawn in immediately to the boy's gripping first-person narrative and be pulled pell-mell through episodes that are at once hilarious, harrowing, and ultimately heartening as Joey grows to understand himself and the people around him. The ride home isn't smooth, but it is hopeful and loving. Does this mean that he is on the way to a happy, "normal" life? As Joey himself would say, "Can I get back to you on that?"-Starr LaTronica, Four County Library System, Vestal, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.