WHAT WOULD JOEY DO?

In the two previous Joey Pigza books, Jack Gantos’s frenetic writing style brilliantly mirrored Joey’s “wired” behavior. But in this last in the trilogy, Joey’s the one who has himself under control while wacky things happen all around him, and he desperately tries to help everyone from his ailing Grandma to his missing dog, his belligerent homeschooling partner, and his warring parents. Joey has never been more engaging, and while there are lots of laugh-out-loud moments, there’s poignancy, too. The story is told from Joey’s first-person perspective, and Gantos is the perfect voice for him. He doesn’t sound like a kid; he sounds like Joey. His low-key but inflected reading makes the antics that much more plausible. Fans will be sorry to see Joey go but can be assured, as Gantos says in an afterword, that Joey IS a good kid and will be a great success. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]