Books with author Jack Gantos

"He was wired. No dought about it...Now I knowwhat Mom meant when she said he was like me, only bigger."Joey Pigza really wants his six-week visit with his dad to count, to show him he's not as wired as he used to be, to show his dad how much he loves him. But Carter Pigza's not an easy guy to love. He's eager to make it up to Joey for past wrongs and to show him how to be a winner, to take control of his life. With his coaching, Joey's even learned how to pitch a baseball, and he's good at it. The trouble is, Joey's dad thinks taking control means giving up the things that "keep Joey safe. And if he wants to please his dad, he's going to have to play by his rules, even when the rules don't make sense.

Joey Pigza can't sit still. He can't pay attention, he can't follow the rules, and he can't help it–especially when his meds aren't working. Joey's had problems ever since he was born, problems just like his dad and grandma have. And whether he's wreaking havoc on a class trip or swallowing his house key, Joey's problems are getting worse. In fact, his behavior is so off the wall that his teachers are threatening to send him to the special-ed center downtown.Joey knows he's really a good kid, but no matter how hard he tries to do the right thing, something always seems to go wrong. Will he ever get anything right?

This town is haunted by more than just ghosts . . . When Jack dresses up as a notorious local murderer for Halloween, he thinks he’s found the perfect costume to scare away evil spirits. But when the real murderer returns and another old lady dies, he starts to worry that he might not be showing the best judgment.Together with Miss Volker, the last remaining original Norvelter, Jack sets out on a road trip through the dark side of America’s history to track down the killer once and for all.Will they save Norvelt? Or are they going nowhere? From Norvelt to Nowhere is Jack Gantos’s hilarious follow-up to Dead End in Norvelt, winner of the Newbery Medal and shortlisted for the 2012 Guardian Children’s Prize.

From author Jack Gantos comes a brand-new story in the award-winning Joey Pigza series, exclusively on Audible. Joey Pigza wants to be a winner - at everything! And yet, it seems he cannot win. But why? What is holding him back? How can he work so hard to be a winner and always end up a loser in school, with friendships and family - even with pets? Could it be possible that the dent in his head is holding him back? How can he outrace a problem that is deeper than a dented head? And can he be a winner? Jack Gantos writes books for all ages. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key was a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control is a Newbery Honor book. He lives in Boston.

Joey Pigza is a boy with big ideas and a heart bigger than his best friend in the whole world—Pablo, his loving chihuahua. Joey returns in a second Audible Original, this time to help rescue all the local dogs that need good homes and to help the animal shelter get the word out about their “PETS MAKE PEOPLE BETTER” adoption event. But in a twist of fate, his own beloved chihuahua, Pablo, has been sent to keep Joey's mother company in jail to help make her a better person! But how will Joey keep himself from worrying about Pablo's fate in prison while helping the animal shelter find happy homes for all the local pets? The answer is dog costumes. Lots of them! And when all the barking is over it seems that pets just might make people better after all.Jack Gantos has written books for readers of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and grownups. His works include a National Book Award Finalist; a Newbery Honor book; a Printz Honor Book and a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book. Jack is also a proponent for audiobook engagement for children as he believes it sparks their imagination.

Sequel to Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor BookAre they flirting or fighting? This is Joey Pigza's question when the fireworks suddenly start to explode between his long-separated mom and dad, whom he's never really had a chance to see together. The more out of control his parents get, the less in control Joey feels and the more he wants to help make things better. But Joey's ailing tell-it-like-it-is grandmother wants her grandson to see it like it is with his unpredictable parents. Knowing that she is fading fast, she needs Joey to hurry up and show that he can break the Pigza family mold by making a friend in the outside world. The only potential candidate, however, is Olivia Lapp -- Joey's blind homeschooling partner, who brags that she is "blind as a brat" and acts meaner to Joey the more desperate he gets for her friendship -- even if Joey senses there's more to her than meets the eye.In this dazzling episode, Jack Gantos's acclaimed hyperactive hero discovers that settling down isn't good for anything if he can't find a way to stop the people he cares about from winding him up all over again. This title has Common Core connections.What Would Joey Do? is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

The fifth and final book in the groundbreaking Joey Pigza series brings the beloved chronicle of this wired, wacky, and wonderful boy to a crescendo of chaos and craziness, as everything goes topsy-turvy for Joey just as he starts to get his feet on the ground. With his dad MIA in the wake of appearance-altering plastic surgery, Joey must give up school to look after his new baby brother and fill in for his mom, who hospitalizes herself to deal with a bad case of postpartum blues. As his challenges mount, Joey discovers a key that could unlock the secrets to his father’s whereabouts, a mystery that must be solved before Joey can even hope that his broken family might somehow come back together—if only it doesn’t pull him apart first.

"They say I'm wired bad, or wired sad, but there's no doubt about it -- I'm wired."Joey Pigza's got heart, he's got a mom who loves him, and he's got "dud meds," which is what he calls the Ritalin pills that are supposed to even out his wild mood swings. Sometimes Joey makes bad choices. He learns the hard way that he shouldn't stick his finger in the pencil sharpener, or swallow his house key, or run with scissors. Joey ends up bouncing around a lot - and eventually he bounces himself all the way downown, into the district special-ed program, which could be the end of the line. As Joey knows, if he keeps making bad choices, he could just fall between the cracks for good. But he is determined not to let that happen.In this antic yet poignant new novel, Jack Gantos has perfect pitch in capturing the humor, the off-the-wall intensity, and the serious challenges that life presents to a kid dealing with hyper-activity and related disorders. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key is a 1998 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature.

Newbery Award–winning author Jack Gantos shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical writing guide perfect for all kids who dream of seeing their name on the spine of a book.With the signature wit and humor that have garnered him legions of fans, Gantos instructs young writers on using their "writing radar" to find story ideas in their own lives. Incorporating his own misadventures as a developing writer, Gantos inspires listeners to build confidence and establish good writing habits as they create and revise their stories. Pop-out text boxes highlight key tips, alongside Gantos's own illustrations, sample stories, and snippets from his childhood journals. More than just a how-to guide, Writing Radar is a celebration of the power of storytelling and an ode to the characters who―many unwittingly―inspired Gantos's own writing career.

This story ventures into the mind and homelife history of a boy with attention and hyperactivity issues. It introduces parent abandonment (leaving them with a grandparent) and students with special needs. The author builds kid humor into this story while taking an honest look at the steps Joey and his Mother must take to get him back into the regular classroom after an incident in which another student is harmed. There are kind, helpful adults who reach out to connect with and help Joey. This book might be helpful to a student who needs to know he/she is not alone in their condition. It could be helpful to students/teachers who need to develop patience and tolerance for students with special needs.

Becoming a writer the hard wayIn the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with a ton of hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners sold the drug until federal agents caught up with them. For his part in the conspiracy, Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison.In Hole in My Life, this prizewinning author of over thirty books for young people confronts the period of struggle and confinement that marked the end of his own youth. On the surface, the narrative tumbles from one crazed moment to the next as Gantos pieces together the story of his restless final year of high school, his short-lived career as a criminal, and his time in prison. But running just beneath the action is the story of how Gantos – once he was locked up in a small, yellow-walled cell – moved from wanting to be a writer to writing, and how dedicating himself more fully to the thing he most wanted to do helped him endure and ultimately overcome the worst experience of his life. Hole in My Life is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.