Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
I thought that reading a book about a boy with severe ADHD would be torturous – descriptions of a kid slamming his body and whirling around like the Tasmanian devil would make me jittery myself. How surprised I was to find the exact opposite. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key was enlightening as well as inspiring. Joey Pigza comes from a dysfunctional family. His grandma raises him while his mom was somewhere out there trying to get sober, and dad is who knows where. Mom re-enters the picture after granny leaves, and it’s just in a nick of time- granny tried to force poor Joey in the fridge for a literal chill out time. Mom is trying to keep her act together, though she indulges regularly in what she calls her “medicine” (alcohol). Joey’s ADHD medicine isn’t working so well and when he nearly cuts the nose off of a fellow schoolmate he is sent to a special facility. There he finally finds the people who really understand both his family problems and how to properly treat his medical/behavioral disorder.
Here he reflects on his new treatment:
My last two weeks downtown zipped by quickly, and when I was ready to leave it seemed that not much time had passed, but I had changed a lot. Still, not all of me had changed. No matter how smart the doctors are, or no matter what medication I take, I’ll always somewhere inside myself be wired wrong and nothing can be done about it. I didn’t make my own bed, but it’s mine anyway whether I like it or not. And as Special Ed said, “you gotta face the hand you’re dealt and deal with it, and make your problems be the smallest part of who you are.” And he’s right.
Yeah, he’s right. There’s a great bit of wisdom there, and I would expect readers to walk away from this book with some keen insight as to what it is like to live with ADHD. The book is a compassionate and vivid eye opener to the challenges ADHD presents, but it is also a great story about a sincerely good kid who has been dealt his share of difficulties. He will break your heart and stir your emotions. Worth reading for sure, and a good book to use for discussions – Do you think Joey was treated fairly by his teachers? How would you react to his behaviors? Was his mom good to him? And what do you think about grandma’s behavior?
Though I’ve yet to read them, the additional books in the “Joey” trilogy are:
Joey Pigza Loses Control and What Would Joey Do?
Teaching guide PDF (click on the number 5 link)
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