Showing results by author "Jack Gantos" in All Categories

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.

Funny Business is based around the theme of - what else? - humor, and if you’re familiar with Jon and the Guys Read Library, you already know what you’re in store for: 10 hilarious stories from some of the funniest writers around. Before you’re through, you’ll meet a teenage mummy; a kid desperate to take a dip in the world’s largest pool of chocolate milk; a homicidal turkey; parents who hand over their son’s room to a biker; and more.

It's a whole new school year, and Joey Pigza is determined to leave his wired ways in the past and be the paying attention, focused, straight-A student he believes he can be. But seated next to him is Bean, a new girl who is in foster care and who happens to have many of the same attention issues Joey has. From day one, Joey can see all the parallels in their behavior, and he's worried that her hyperactive secret sauce is going to tarnish his year.    

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 fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore - typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his town.

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!

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?

Everything seems to be coming together for Joey Pigza. His new meds are making his ADD more manageable, and he finally feel in control. But will he renewed relationship with his recovering-alcoholic father make him lose it all?

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.

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.

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.

With the signature wit and humor that has 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. 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' own writing career.

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, he 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, including a new name, a new home, and a new family business: running the beat-up Beehive Diner.

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, 12-year-old Jack will soon find himself launched on a mission that takes him hundreds of miles away.

¡Joey Pigza quiere ganar! En esta aventura, el amado héroe de Jack Gantos vuelve a los corazones de los niños con una historia sobre carreras, perseverancia y los accidentes inevitables de la vida. A pesar de sus zapatos viejos y su lucha contra el TDAH, Joey no dejará que nada lo detenga; después de todo, es el campeón veloz de las carreras en el patio de la escuela. Pero cuando una colisión a alta velocidad lo deja con una cabeza abollada y más problemas que nunca, ¿puede nuestro impulsivo héroe superar sus obstáculos y correr hacia la cima?

Es un año escolar completamente nuevo, y Joey Pigza está decidido a dejar sus locuras en el pasado y ser el estudiante atento, enfocado y que cree puede ser. Pero sentada a su lado está Bean, una chica nueva que está en un hogar de acogimiento de menores y que tiene muchos de los mismos problemas de atención que tiene Joey. Desde el primer día, Joey puede ver mucho de su comportamiento en ella, y le preocupa que la conducta hiperactiva pueda empañar el año de Joey. 

Joey quiere ayudar a rescatar a todos los perros que necesitan buenos hogares, corriendo la voz acerca de un evento en su localidad de adopción del refugio de animales "Pets Make People Better". ¡Pero en un giro del destino, su amado chihuahua, Pablo, ha sido enviado con la madre de Joey quien está en la cárcel para ayudarla a ser una mejor persona!  

Funny Business is based around the theme of - what else - humor, and if you’re familiar with Jon and Guys Read, you already know what you’re in store for: an hilarious story.

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 all starts with a train rushing through the night…. Well, actually, it starts when Jon Scieszka, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, writes a cliff-hanger episode and passes it on to the next member of a cast of celebrated writers, who continues the story and pass it on. And what happens between episodes one and 27? Think werewolves and mad scientists, a talking pig, plenty of explosions, a blue Star Wars lunchbox, two meatballs, a whole army of villains and varmints, and more!

This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of 14-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.