For middle readers grappling with family challenges, identity, and the meaning of forgiveness, this book offers a heartfelt and humorous look at acceptance.
A parent might reach for this book when their child is navigating a chaotic home life or dealing with the disappointment of an unreliable parent. It's for the child who feels like their world is spinning out of control due to adult decisions. In "I Am Not Joey Pigza," Joey’s life is turned upside down when his manic father returns with a lottery win and a wild plan to change their names and open a diner. The story powerfully explores themes of identity, resilience, and the true meaning of forgiveness. With its signature blend of humor and heart, this book (for ages 9-12) doesn't offer easy answers but provides a validating model for finding your own stability and sense of self, even when the adults in your life are falling apart.
Parents are portrayed as loving but deeply flawed and immature, causing harm through their actions.
Sad ContentModerate
Deals directly with parental unreliability, emotional neglect, and abandonment.
Sensitive Topics
The book explores the distress and confusion caused by a forced name change. The resolution focuses on Joey reclaiming his sense of self after this experience. The book is a direct and unflinching look at parental instability, emotional neglect, and family dysfunction. The parents' behavior, while often framed with humor, is clearly damaging. The resolution is realistic, not idealistic: the father does not change, and the family is not magically fixed. The focus is on the child's resilience and acceptance of his parents' profound limitations.
Ideal Reader
A mature reader aged 10-12 who is grappling with a chaotic home environment, an unpredictable parent, or feelings of instability and lack of control within their own family. It's perfect for a child who appreciates humor as a coping mechanism for serious situations and can handle a story without a neat, tidy ending.
Parent Prep
Parents should be prepared to discuss the complexities of forgiveness, especially forgiving someone who continues to cause harm. It's a good idea to preview the ending to manage expectations; the father's abandonment is predictable but can still be upsetting. A conversation about parental fallibility and the fact that love can coexist with deep disappointment would be beneficial. A parent hears their child say, "Why can't he just be normal?" about a family member, or expresses frustration and confusion after a parent has made and broken a significant promise. The child might seem to be taking on too much adult responsibility or worrying about adult problems.
Age Experience
A younger reader (9-10) will likely connect with the zany humor of the diner scenes and the clear injustice of Joey's situation. An older reader (11-12) will better understand the subtext of the parents' behavior (implied mental health issues), the psychological weight of Joey's situation and the changes he's experiencing, and the profound maturity of his final act of forgiveness.
What Makes It Special
This book's uniqueness lies in Jack Gantos's masterful voice, which injects wild humor into deeply painful situations without cheapening the emotion. Unlike many stories that end with parental redemption, this one bravely focuses on the child's journey to self-acceptance and his realization that he can only change himself. It models a complex, realistic form of resilience.
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Read plot summary
The fourth book in the series finds Joey Pigza in a stable place until his father, Carter, returns. Flush with lottery winnings, Carter changes his name to Charles Heinz, renames his wife and son, and buys a dilapidated diner. He pulls Joey from school to work in this doomed enterprise. As his father's manic plans and finances crumble, Joey struggles with his forced new identity as "Freddie." Carter inevitably spends the last of the money on more lottery tickets and abandons the now pregnant Fran. Joey, however, reaches a new level of maturity, forgiving his father for who he is and looking toward the future with his new sibling with a clear sense of his own identity.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
When Joey's dad changes his name to Freddie, Joey feels like he is disappearing. Why is a name so important to a person's identity? What are the things that make you feel like you?
2
Joey’s mom tells him to simply forgive his father and go along with the plan. Do you think this was helpful advice? What is the difference between forgiving someone and pretending their actions don't hurt?
3
At the end of the book, Joey forgives his dad even after he leaves them again. What do you think this kind of forgiveness means? Is it for his dad's benefit, or for his own?
4
Joey realizes he can't change his parents, only himself. What does he do to take care of himself and his own feelings once he understands this? How does this change things for him?
