Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

Rating:
Summary: First-rate. An extremely touching and funny novel.
Review: This novel takes the reader inside the head of a hyperactive boy, whose hyperactivity is as much or more proplelled by his running away from early abandonment as it is by his biochemistry. Though authors often try to take us inside the mind of a person very different from ourselves, success at the level of JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY is extremely rare. In this novel the energy of the prose conveys both the protagonist's activity and his thought processes, as he runs away from unbearable moments in his past with both comic and tragic consequences. The sources of Joey's problems are deftly sketched in a way that deepens the story immensely without forcing young readers to dwell on the moments of horror in Joey's past. A masterful work that will foster empathy in young readers and help them to understand how somebody who, like Joey, is a problem--can also be most loveable and in the deepest ways, very like themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Great insight into an ADHD child's thoughts and feelings!
Review: I think this is a much needed resource for parents and teachers who deal with ADD and ADHD children. This book allows us a view from the child's perspective. I have read many books on the topic from the perspective of how to teach the ADHD child, but this is the first one I have read that describes so vividly how these children think and feel.