Books by Jack Gantos
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
by Jack Gantos
As Joey struggles with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, he works extra hard to keep his behavior in check as he begins to feel incapable of doing anything right in the eyes of others. Teachers'/Parents' Guide available.
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Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
by Jack Gantos
"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. This title has Common Core connections.
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key is a 1998 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature.
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Rotten Ralph Helps Out: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader (Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers, 1)
by Jack Gantos
"Rotten Ralph is one cat who can make reading fun for kids. And he does!" --Marc Brown
Sarah needs a topic for her school project on ancient Egypt. Her rotten red cat, Ralph, thinks history is a bore. Only after he spoils a research trip to the library does Ralph decide to help. According to Sarah, the ancient Egyptians believed cats were wise and had special powers. And Rotten Ralph knows he can prove them right!
This antic adventure is the first Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader, a rambunctious new series for beginning readers.
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Dead End in Norvelt (Norvelt Series, 1)
by Jack Gantos
Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction!
Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore―typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.
Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.
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Dead End in Norvelt (Norvelt Series, 1)
by Jack Gantos
Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction!
Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore―typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.
Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.
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What Would Joey Do?
by Jack Gantos
Joey's dad just roared into town on a motorcycle, his mom is chasing her ex-husband away with a broomstick, and his grandma's camped out on the couch behind a plastic shower curtain. What's more, Joey's chihuahua has been dognapped, and his mom insists that he be homeschooled with a mean blind girl and her super-religious mother. Welcome to Joey's world.
With his new self-assumed role as "Mr. Helpful," Joey's on a mission to make everything and everyone better. Can Joey accomplish all this or will his wild, wired behavior spin him out of control all over again?
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Guys Read: Heroes & Villains (Guys Read, 7)
by Deborah Hopkinson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Lemony Snicket, Sharon Creech, Jack Gantos, Jon Scieszka, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Eugene Yelchin, Christopher Healy, Cathy Camper, Ingrid Law
Heroes and Villains, the seventh volume in Jon Scieszka’s Guys Read Library of Great Reading, is chock-full of adventure featuring an array of characters—with and without capes.
Featuring ten all-new, original stories that run the gamut from fantasy to comics to contemporary adventure to nonfiction, and featuring eleven of the most acclaimed, exciting writers for kids working today, this collection is the perfect book for you, whether you use your powers for good—or evil.
Authors include Laurie Halse Anderson, Cathy Camper and Raúl Gonzalez, Sharon Creech, Jack Gantos, Christopher Healy, Deborah Hopkinson, Ingrid Law, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Lemony Snicket, and Eugene Yelchin, with illustrations by Jeff Stokely.
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Joey Pigza Loses Control
by 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.
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Joey Pigza Loses Control
by Jack Gantos
The sequel to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist.
When Joey Pigza meets his dad for the first time in years, he meets a grown-up version of his old out-of-control self. Carter Pigza is as wired as Joey used to be -- before his stint in special ed, and before he got his new meds.
Joey's mom reluctantly agrees that he can stay with his dad for a summer visit, which sends Joey racing with sky-high hopes that he and Carter can finally get to know each other. But as the weeks whirl by, Carter has bigger plans in mind. He decides that just as he has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, Joey can do the same and become as normal as any kid, without the help of a doctor's prescription. Carter believes Joey can do it and Joey wants to believe him more than anything in the world.
Here is the continuation of the acclaimed Joey Pigza story, affirming not only that Joey Pigza is a true original but that it runs in the family. This title has Common Core connections.
Joey Pigza Loses Control is a 2000 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and a 2001 Newbery Honor Book.
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Back to School for Rotten Ralph (Rotten Ralph (Paperback))
by Jack Gantos
The character Rotten Ralph was created more than twenty years ago. Now the worlds most rotten cat and his friend, Sarah, set out again on a variety of capricious capers. In three brand-new boisterously entertaining stories, Rotten Ralph is sure to weasel his way into the hearts of another generation of readers. In Back to School for Rotten Ralph, summer is over, and Sarah cant wait to start school and make some new friendsother than her rotten cat, Ralph. But Ralph wants to be Sarahs only friend, and he won't be left behind. When Sarah boards the school bus, he disguises himself as a student, follows her to class, and starts his scheme of sabotage. Ralphs plan works brilliantly until his true identity is revealed and the entire class wants to be friends with Sarah and Ralph!
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The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza (Joey Pigza, 5)
by Jack Gantos
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.
This title has Common Core connections.
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What Would Joey Pigza Do?
by Jack Gantos
Sequel to Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor Book
Are 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.
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I Am Not Joey Pigza
by Jack Gantos
Joey's dad is back and he's handing out hundred dollar bills.
He's also changed his name from Carter Pigza to Charles Heinz.
Joey's mom thinks it's perfectly normal because she used to be Fran and now she's Maria.
Now Charles and Maria are calling Joey a new name, too.
Freddy.
And it turns out they were never divorced. They're even renewing their vows.
And the whole family is going to run a diner together.
Should Joey's parents really be the ones making all the decisions around here?
This title has Common Core connections.
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From Norvelt to Nowhere (Norvelt Series, 2)
by Jack Gantos
This rocket-paced follow-up to the Newbery Medal–winning novel Dead End in Norvelt opens deep in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis. But instead of Russian warheads, other kinds of trouble are raining down on young Jack Gantos and his utopian town of Norvelt in western Pennsylvania. After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the town's founder, twelve-year-old Jack will soon find himself launched on a mission that takes him hundreds of miles away, escorting his slightly mental elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on her relentless pursuit of the oddest of outlaws. But as their trip turns south in more ways than one, it's increasingly clear that the farther from home they travel, the more off-the-wall Jack and Miss Volker's adventure becomes, in From Norvelt to Nowhere, a raucous road novel about roots and revenge, a last chance at love, and the power of a remarkable friendship.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013
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From Norvelt to Nowhere (Norvelt Series, 2)
by Jack Gantos
This rocket-paced follow-up to the Newbery Medal–winning novel Dead End in Norvelt opens deep in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis. But instead of Russian warheads, other kinds of trouble are raining down on young Jack Gantos and his utopian town of Norvelt in western Pennsylvania. After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the town's founder, twelve-year-old Jack will soon find himself launched on a mission that takes him hundreds of miles away, escorting his slightly mental elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on her relentless pursuit of the oddest of outlaws. But as their trip turns south in more ways than one, it's increasingly clear that the farther from home they travel, the more off-the-wall Jack and Miss Volker's adventure becomes, in From Norvelt to Nowhere, a raucous road novel about roots and revenge, a last chance at love, and the power of a remarkable friendship.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013
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The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs
by Jack Gantos
On an unseasonably warm Easter Sunday, a young girl named
Ivy discovers a chilling secret in the basement of the Rumbaugh
pharmacy across the street from the hotel where she lives with
her mother. The discovery reveals a disturbing side to the
eccentric lives of family friends Abner and Adolph Rumbaugh,
known throughout their small western Pennsylvania town
simply as the Twins. It seems that Ab and Dolph have been
compelled by a powerful mutual love for their deceased mother
to do something extraordinary, something that in its own
twisted way bridges the gap between the living and the dead.
Immediately, Ivy's discovery provokes the revelation of a
Rumbaugh family curse, a curse that, as Ivy will learn over the
coming years, holds a strange power over herself and her own
mother.
In his third book for young adults, Jack Gantos has scripted a
completely original drama. With gothic flavor and black humor,
he depicts a group of people bound together by love,
compulsion . . . and a passion for taxidermy.
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The Trouble in Me
by Jack Gantos
This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of fourteen-year-old Jack Gantos, as the author reveals the moment he began to slide off track as a kid who in just a few years would find himself locked up in a federal penitentiary for the crimes portrayed in the memoir Hole in My Life. Set in the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood of his family's latest rental home, The Trouble in Me opens with an explosive encounter in which Jack first meets his awesomely rebellious older neighbor, Gary Pagoda, just back from juvie for car theft. Instantly mesmerized, Jack decides he will do whatever it takes to be like Gary. As a follower, Jack is eager to leave his old self behind, and desperate for whatever crazy, hilarious, frightening thing might happen next. But he may not be as ready as he thinks when the trouble in him comes blazing to life.
This title has Common Core connections.
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The Trouble in Me
by Jack Gantos
This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of fourteen-year-old Jack Gantos, when he began to slide off track as a kid who in just a few years would find himself locked up in a federal penitentiary for the crimes portrayed in the memoir Hole in My Life. Set in Fort Lauderdale, The Trouble in Me opens with an explosive encounter in which Jack first meets his awesomely rebellious older neighbor, Gary Pagoda, just back from juvie for car theft. Instantly mesmerized, Jack decides he will do whatever it takes to be like Gary. As a follower, Jack is eager to leave his old self behind and desperate for whatever crazy, hilarious, frightening thing might happen next. But he may not be as ready as he thinks when the trouble in him comes blazing to life.
The Trouble in Me by Jack Gantos is a brutally honest memoir that is dark, funny, and most of all, true-to-life.
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I Am Not Joey Pigza (Joey Pigza, 4)
by Jack Gantos
Just when Joey Pigza's wired world finally seems to be under control, his good-for-nothing dad pops back into his life. This time, though, Carter Pigza is a new man – literally. After a lucky lotto win, Carter Pigza has a crazy new outlook on life, and he's even changed his name to Charles Heinz. He thinks Joey and his mom should become new people, too. Soon Joey finds himself bombarded with changes: a new name, a new home, and a new family business – running the beat-up Beehive Diner. He knows he should forgive his dad as his mom wants him to, and get with the new family program. But Joey is afraid that in changing names and going with the flow he will lose sight of who he really is.
In this rocket-paced new chapter in Joey Pigza's life, a favorite hero discovers what identity and forgiveness really mean, and how to cook a delicious turkey burger.
This title has Common Core connections.
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Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade Without a Clue: A Jack Henry Adventure (Jack Henry, 1)
by Jack Gantos
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, eight side-splitting stories about a boy who is doing his best to keep his head above water
As the Henry family sets sail for a new life on Cape Hatteras, fourth-grader Jack is struggling to chart a course between his parents' contradictory advice on making friends and influencing people. Just tell people what they want to hear, Dad advises. Just tell the truth, Mom cautions. Jack finds there are no easy answers as he drifts through his crazy school year, falling desperately in love with his young teacher, getting suckered into becoming a bad-behavior spy for the principal, and being forced to make a presentable pet out of a duck with backward feet. Indeed, with an airheaded, air-guitar-playing neighbor the closest thing to a friend, and a judgmental older sister his relentless enemy, it's all he can do to stay afloat.
This colorful and comic new collection of interrelated stories featuring the author's hapless alter ego is the first of five books in the Jack Henry series, praised by Booklist for their "hilarious, exquisitely painful, and utterly on-target depiction" of a boy's life.
This title has Common Core connections.
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Desire Lines
Sixteen-year-old Walker has discovered something potentially scandalous―two of his female classmates are having an affair. It is a secret he has no problem keeping to himself . . . until it comes to protecting his own reputation.
"It is difficult to close Desire Lines without the overpowering feeling that evil's caretaker can very well be an average young man who lacks the courage to do what he knows is right. This is a morality play as painful and rage-inducing as a personal betrayal. Take it personally. You cannot read this without getting as emotionally involved as if you were a player in the story." ―Chris Lynch
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Desire Lines
Are you ready to go on a journey with desire?
Desire Lines is for any woman who wants to know more about who she is as a sexual being, and who longs to express this part of herself on her own terms. She does not want to simply reflect back the image of sexuality she has been shown by society. She is ready to find out her own sexual truths and to step into these - seeking out and following her own, unique desire lines.
Through sharing stories of her own sexual journey, along with evocative erotica and reflective questions, Anna invites you to explore and create a map of your own desires. Bold, challenging and inspiring, Desire Lines contains graphic language and descriptions of sex and sexuality, including kink and BDSM, gender and body non-conformity, lust and love.
"Anna is willing to go to her edges when writing and courageously brings through themes and ideas that perhaps other writers would shy away from. She gives voice to those who may have been reluctant to share their own stories, and challenges the reader of Desire Lines to explore their own desires and get to know their sexual self." Nicola Humber, mentor to Unbound women, and author of UNBOUND
Anna is a former sexual surrogate partner and wrote the Sex/Life column for DIVA Magazine for two years. Her published erotica includes short stories and a full-length novel. Frustrated by the limited and restrictive portrayals of women's sexuality in the mainstream media, she is driven to offer alternative perspectives. Desire Lines provides a unique and insightful way of looking at sexuality by exploring the themes of our desires, rather than focusing on specific fantasies. These themes (our personal desire lines) help to reveal who we are, what we need, and what we want, to thrive as sexual beings.
This book was a co-creation with Lilith: the untamed, intuitive and free aspect of every woman.
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Hole in My Life
by Jack Gantos
Becoming a writer the hard way
In 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.
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Hole in My Life
by Jack Gantos
From the Newbery Award–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, this is a memoir about becoming a writer the hard way. A Printz Honor and Sibert Honor book.
In 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.
This title has Common Core connections.
Jack Gantos is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of books for readers of all ages, including Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor book. His book The Trouble in Me is an autobiographical novel about a fourteen-year-old Jack Gantos, and his book Dead End in Novelt won the Newbery Medal, the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction.
Praise for Hole in My Life:
“A memoir, by turns harrowing and hilarious, about a huge mistake.” ―Miami Herald
“His account is remarkably free of both self-pity and self-censorship. . . . This is a tale of courage and redemption, proving that a bad start in life does not have to lead to a bad life story.” ―The New York Times Book Review
“Gantos really is Everyman, but an Everyman who has landed himself into a deeper pit than most. What separates Gantos is the determination that took him out of his dreams and into a successful life as a writer. Those writerly skills are in full evidence here, in this thoughtful and provocative memoir as valuable to those who have never heard of Gantos as to those who have read all of his books.” ―Hyde Park Review of Books
“The ultimate cautionary tale.” ―Smithsonian
“This true tale of the worst year in the author's life will be a big surprise for his many fans. . . .This is a story of mistakes, dues, redemption, and finally success at what he always wanted to do: write books.” ―Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Awards for Hole in My Life:
School Library Best Books of the Year
Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library
Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
Michael L. Printz Award - Honor
ALA Best Books for Young Adults
NYPL Books for the Teen Age
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Award
Massachusetts Children's Book Award
American Library Association Notable Children's Books
Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List
American Library Association Popular Paperbacks for Young Readers
Parents' Choice Award Winner
Robert F. Sibert Award - Honor
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
ALA Notable Children's Books
Booklist Editors' Choice
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Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories
by Jack Gantos
The Newbery Award–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical creative 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, Jack Gantos instructs young writers on using their "writing radar" to unearth story ideas from their everyday lives. Incorporating his own misadventures as a developing writer, Gantos inspires readers to build confidence and establish good writing habits as they create, revise, and perfect 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.
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Rotten Ralph's Trick Or Treat
by Jack Gantos
Product Description Sarah and Ralph are invited to a Halloween party, and the invitation says, ?Come as the thing you love best. So Sarah and Ralph go as each other. But then Ralph starts to make trouble and Sarah gets blamed?Ralphs tricks are no treats for her! About the Author Jack Gantos: "While I was in college, I began writing stories about animals. When I first met Nicole Rubel she was a painting student... We had a friend who thought we had a similar sense of humor. So we teamed up and began working together on picture books ... At first I thought children's books had to be sweet, warm, and gentle ... After [several] failures, I was very frustrated. Then I remembered what one of my teachers told me. He said, 'You should write about what you know:' I was sitting at my desk and I looked down on the floor and saw my lousy, grumpy, hissing creep of a cat that loved to scratch my ankles, throw fur around the house, and shred the clothes in my closet. So I wrote the first draft of Rotten Ralph." Jack Gantos lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Author and illustrator Nicole Rubel has a degree in fine arts from the Boston Museum School and has taught ceramics, silk screening, and mural design to children. Booklist has described her artwork as "busy, brightly colored paintings, done in child appealing primitive style, filled with subtle, humorous touches." Ms. Rubel lives in West Linn, Oregon, with her husband and parrot.
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The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph
by Jack Gantos
Poor Rotten Ralph. His health just isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to his rotten ways, he’s down to the very last of his nine lives!
“One more slip and he’ll be gone forever,” warns the vet.
Sarah, Ralph’s doting owner, is fiercely determined to keep her cat safe. But how much coddling can Ralph take before he has to do something totally and utterly rotten?
In this ninth tale about the most delightfully disobedient cat in town, being naughty has never looked so good to Rotten Ralph. But then again, after a hard day’s rotten work, neither does the warmth and safety of Sarah’s lap!
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Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Joey Pigza, 1)
by Jack Gantos
"They say I'm wired bad, or wired sad, but there's no doubt about it–I'm wired."
Explore the energetic world of Joey Pigza, a young boy with a heart of gold and a mind that's faster than light. Join Joey as he navigates misadventures, quirky decisions, and educational hurdles, always driven by his unwavering quest to fit into a world that seems to operate at a different rhythm.
This book, a National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature, provides a much-needed perspective for those navigating neurodiversity―or for anyone seeking an understanding of a different walk of life.
Author Jack Gantos masterfully bridges the gap between education and entertainment, crafting an engaging adventure that also serves as an enlightening discussion about hyper-activity.
This title has Common Core connections.
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Writing Radar Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories
by Jack Gantos
The Newbery Award–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical creative 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, Jack Gantos instructs young writers on using their "writing radar" to unearth story ideas from their everyday lives. Incorporating his own misadventures as a developing writer, Gantos inspires readers to build confidence and establish good writing habits as they create, revise, and perfect 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.
Praise for Writing Radar:
Evanston IL Public Library Best Books of the Year
CPL: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
“An excellent guide for aspiring authors. . . And while the book is directed at serious writers in the making, there's enough exaggeration and grossness to keep readers laughing.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Gantos’s journey as a young writer learning his craft and the stories he actually wrote in middle school, all told with his characteristic humor, will appeal to fans of his novels whether or not they aspire to a writing career. Teachers will also find Gantos’s breakdown on the creation of a story valuable for teaching critical reading as well as writing skills." —VOYA, starred review
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