Jack Gantos, Author . HarperTrophy $5.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-
In a starred review, PW
said, "Like its predecessor, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, this high-voltage, honest novel mixes humor, pain, fear and courage with deceptive ease." Ages 10-up. (Mar.)
Fans of Gantos's irrepressible Ralph who are ready to graduate from picture books will eagerly leap into this early chapter book, the first installment of the Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader Continue reading »
Gantos draws inspiration from his own childhood diaries in the fourth collection of stories about Jack Henry. In these nine tales, his aggravations include his annoying older sister, some crazy Continue reading »
After penning a number of novels for preteens, including the Joey Pigza books and the Jack series, Gantos makes a smooth transition as he addresses an older audience. He uses the same bold honesty Continue reading »
The final title in the saga that includes the Newbery Honor book Joey Pigza Loses Control
finds the hero flustered by his parent's questionable reunion and Continue reading »
"Gantos uses the same bold honesty found in his fiction to offer a riveting autobiographical account of his teen years [when he agreed to help smuggle hashish from Florida to New York and Continue reading »
Are personalities determined by genes or by environment? Is it possible to love one's mother too much? Is there really such a thing as free will? Can curses be passed down from one generation Continue reading »
With a steady youthful voice,Datz gives an appropriately creepy and compelling edge to Gantos's strange, darkly comic novel of disturbing small-town goings-on. Upon her 16th birthday, narrator Continue reading »
In suitably off-kilter fashion, this fourth installment in what had been previously called a trilogy finds the hyperactive hero reunited with Carter Pigza, his “no-good squinty-eyed bad Continue reading »
Uh oh. Rotten Ralph is in bigger trouble than ever. After a rough night of “being rotten with his alley cat friends,” he gets some bad news from the vet: he's used up eight of his Continue reading »
When Sarah and her cat Rotten Ralph go to a Halloween party dressed as each other, Ralph's antics almost ruin their friendship. Ages 4-8. Continue reading »
The author of the offbeat Rotten Ralph picture books makes an auspicious foray into new ground with this semi-autobiographical, wholly engaging novel. His narrator, Jack, travels through the often Continue reading »
Gantos's attempt to combine a raw prison novel with a sly send-up of the Elvis cult doesn't always work, but when it does, this first adult novel from a much-published YA and children's-book writer Continue reading »
These companion stories to the Jack Henry books are ""extravagantly imaginative adventures,"" said PW; they recount the year the seventh-grader's family moves to Barbados. Ages 10-up. Continue reading »
Authentic-sounding first-person narration by a hyperactive boy gives readers an inside view of attention-deficit disorders. Joey Pigza is a ""wired-up mess,"" and he is struggling to get on the right Continue reading »
At the end of seventh grade, Jack Henry decides to write a novel in this third collection of interlinked stories. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) r Continue reading »
In a starred review, PW called this National Book Award finalist ""an accurate, compassionate and humorous appraisal of a boy with attention-deficit disorder."" Ages 10-up. (Feb.) Continue reading »
First introduced in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, Gantos's hyperactive hero Joey Pigza has not lost any of his liveliness, but after undergoing therapy and a stint in special ed., he now can exercise Continue reading »
This fall offers fans a fresh crop of sequels. The final title in the Joey Pigza saga, What Would Joey Do? by Jack Gantos, finds the hero flustered by his parent's questionable reunion and his Continue reading »
Several stars of early readers return for more adventures. Let loose at the carnival, the star of Practice Makes Perfect for Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos, illus. by Nicole Rubel, tries to outplay Continue reading »
Jack Gantos continues the Jack Henry Books (Jack on the Tracks; Heads or Tails) with Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade Without a Clue. Jack's father rejoins the Navy and the family relocates from their Continue reading »
Kids have seen--and have loved seeing--Ralph be thoroughly rotten, even at Christmas, so it comes as no surprise that this fractious feline decides to act up on his birthday. As usual, his antics are Continue reading »
In his Valentine-themed eighth adventure, misbehaving cat Rotten Ralph remains rude and remorseless. Worried that a Valentine's Day party ""means sticky, gooey, wet, drippy kisses,"" Ralph does his Continue reading »
This Halloween story, one of a series of Rotten Ralph books, continues the exploits of the truly terrible cat belonging to a little girl, Sarah, who has the patience of a saint. Dressed as each Continue reading »
There are few things in childhood more embarrassing than being humiliated at school, and therein lies the charm of the latest in the Rotten Ralph series. By licking an entire stamp collection and Continue reading »
Can Mr. Fred's Feline Finishing School really expunge every trace of Ralph's unrepentant rottenness? For a few heart-stopping moments it seems so: although Ralph steadfastly resists the school's more Continue reading »
Walker, a pensive loner, avoids confrontation as much as possible-until the son of a fundamentalist preacher accuses him of being gay. Pressured by both religious fanatics and his peers, the Continue reading »
Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph [With 2 Sided Cassette]
Jack Gantos
Spring has sprung with a bouquet of book-and-cassette titles. Despite his rotten behavior, Ralph the cantankerous red cat is feted by his owner, Sarah, in Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos, Continue reading »
For kids anxious about a trip to the doctor, their favorite feline may offer some assistance, in Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten: A Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader by Jack Gantos, illus. by Nicole Rubel. After Continue reading »
In this early reader, Ralph, the storied tomato-red cat with a jack-o-lantern grin, has home run aspirations. But when it's time for tryouts, Ralph is too focused on being a "superstar" to listen to Continue reading »
A bit of autobiography works its way into all of Gantos's work, but he one-ups himself in this wildly entertaining meld of truth and fiction by naming the main character... Jackie Gantos. Like the Continue reading »
Gantos?s sequel to his Newbery-winning Dead End in Norvelt offers less history, more murder, and another hefty helping of zaniness. An explosion shuts school for repairs, leaving Jackie, 12, free to Continue reading »
In this follow up to the award-winning Dead End in Norvelt, Gantos sends 12-year-old Jack and his elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on a road trip to New York, set against the backdrop of the Cuban Continue reading »
?It is so much easier to be in trouble all the time because then everyone wants to help you,? laments Joey Pigza in this fifth and final volume of his chronicles. Suffering from postpartum Continue reading »
This installment in Gantos?s ongoing chronicle of his tumultuous youth opens ominously, with 14-year-old Jackie crossing the backyard with matches and a can of lighter fluid. What could possibly go Continue reading »
Gantos reflects on his early teenage years, a key period of time that led him down the life of crime and prison he captured in his previous memoir, Hole in My Life. This book recounts a Continue reading »
Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories
Jack Gantos
In an excellent guide for aspiring authors, Newbery Medalist Gantos distills his creative writing expertise into breezy chapters, emphasizing the value of keeping a journal?and using stories he wrote Continue reading »
I Am Not Joey Pigza is the fourth book in Jack Gantos' series about a hyperactive hero for our times. Bookshelf caught up with the author for a chat about Joey's future.
Continue reading »
Three lucky authors got phone calls from the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz committees, letting each of them know they had won the top prize. Continue reading »
Onoseta’s devastatingly vulnerable debut, told nonlinearly in two teen Nigerian girls’ dual perspectives, portrays a tempestuous sisterhood amid colorism, familial trauma, and Continue reading »
Humor and heartfelt emotion reign supreme in a quirky narrative that centers the importance of family, blood or blended. Twelve-year-old Adela Ramírez, who’s of Mexican descent, Continue reading »
“Sal loved the water. He liked to imagine it moving under his feet.” With junk from his mother’s garage and pickings from local businesses, he starts building. In the family’s Continue reading »
Rick, a lumpy gray rock with googly eyes and a sweet smile, has been sitting on Room 214’s Nature Finds shelf “for as long as he can remember” while on-the-move human students, Continue reading »