Bøker av 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.

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 in I Am Not Joey Pigza, Joey is afraid that in changing names and going with the flow he will lose sight of who he really is. In Jack Gantos' 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.

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

Sequel to Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor BookAre 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.What Would Joey Do? is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

When the carnival comes to town, the world's favorite fractious feline discovers the hilariously wrong way to victory before he gets it right. "Illustrated with Rubel's deadpan pictures, this is a prize for newly independent readers, for whom 'practice makes perfect' indeed." -The Horn Book Guide "Ralph has his own special niche in the world of children's literature, and now on the easy-reader shelves, too." -Kirkus Reviews*

Becoming a writer the hard wayIn 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.Hole in My Life is a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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!

This is Gantos' third book about Jack Henry, continuing the hilarious adventures of the 13-year-old boy.

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

From the Newbery Medal-winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, eight more hysterical semi-autobiographical Jack Henry stories about a sixth grader's trials and tribulationsJack's life is a crazy roller-coaster ride. At his fifth school in six years, he has a crackpot teacher who won't give him a break about his lousy handwriting and a secret crush who wants to be a policewoman. At home, he has a pesky little brother with a knack for getting hurt whenever Jack's supposed to be looking after him, a terror for an older sister, all sorts of weird neighbors, and, last but not least, ferocious alligators in the canal behind his house.Writing in his diary about his good days and bad days is one way Jack survives his up-and-down year. But he's also a kid who knows that life can go any which way at any given moment. A Common Core title.

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. But once he was locked up in a small, yellow-walled cell, he found inspiration. He moved from wanting to be a writer to writing, and ultimately overcame the worst experience of his life.

Newberry Medal winner Jack Gantos shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical creative writing guide perfect for middle-grade readers.

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.

This town is haunted by more than just ghosts . . . When Jack dresses up as a notorious local murderer for Halloween, he thinks he s found the perfect costume to scare away evil spirits. But when the real murderer returns and another old lady dies, he starts to worry that he might not be showing the best judgment.Together with Miss Volker, the last remaining original Norvelter, Jack sets out on a road trip through the dark side of America s history to track down the killer once and for all.Will they save Norvelt? Or are they going nowhere? From Norvelt to Nowhere is Jack Gantos s hilarious follow-up to Dead End in Norvelt, winner of the Newbery Medal and shortlisted for the 2012 Guardian Children s Prize.

Joey is a good kid, maybe even a great kid, but his teachers never know what he's going to do next. Told from Joey's own unique viewpoint by acclaimed American author Jack Gantos, this is an exceptionally funny and touching story about a boy with severe attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Joey Pigza is back in his fifth hilarious adventure, with illustrations by David Tazzyman.

Everything changes for Joey when his crazy, long-lost dad returns home after a lucky lottery win. Now they're rich, Carter Pigza truly believes that his family can start a whole new life and that means embarking on a brand new career running a busy diner - and changing their family name from Pigza to Heinz. Can Joey handle becoming Freddy? And how does he really feel about the fact that he's going to become a big brother?

'Joey Pigza, you need a life!'Grandma wants Joey to find a friend, stop running around after his NUTTY parents, and start looking after himself. But Joey's got other plans - he's going to be MR HELPFUL. Can Joey the secret superhero suceed in his mission to keey everybody SMILING?

Joey's dad is well and truly wired!After months of nagging, Joey Pigza is finally allowed to spend the summer holidays with his dad. Joey so wants to believe his dad is right - but Joey remembers just how manic he felt before he got help.

Sixteen-year-old Walker has accidentally discvered that two female classmates are lovers. When a rabid evangelical preacher arrives in their town, a witch-hunt is launched against gay students and Walker, for some reason, is the prime target.

Jack's summer has hit a dead end . . .After being 'grounded for life', Jack is facing a summer of doing nothing. But who's got time to die of boredom when there are so many more interesting ways to die in this town? He might crash in his dad's homemade plane, or catch the disease that makes you dance yourself to death, or fall foul of the motorcycle gang that wants to burn the town to the ground. Old people seem to be dying faster than Miss Volker can write their obituaries, and Jack is starting to worry that it might not just be the rats that are eating the rat poison . . .Dead End in Norvelt is Jack Gantos's hilarious blend of the entirely true and the wildly fictional, from one of the most darkly amusing imaginations writing today.