New Releases by Jack Gantos

When a young boy enters a library wearing an explosive vest hidden underneath his lovely new red jacket, he only has one plan on his mind. But as he observes those around him becoming completely captivated by all of the wonderful books they are reading-books he has no ability to read-the boy can''t help but question his reasoning for being there.

Acclaimed author Jack Gantos''s guide to becoming the best brilliant writer.

Featuring ten all-new, original stories that run the gamut from fantasy to comics to contemporary adventure to nonfiction, and featuring eleven of the most acclaimed, exciting writers for kids working today, this collection is the perfect book for yo

Sarah takes Ralph to school so he can do his ABC''s for show and tell, but as usual, the rotten cat refuses to cooperate.

"Everything goes topsy-turvy for Joey as he becomes the man of the house, looking after his new baby brother, taking care of his troubled mother, and seeking out his missing father"--

This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of fourteen-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. Set in the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood of his family''s latest rental home, 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. This title has Common Core connections.

"Everything goes topsy-turvy for Joey as he becomes the man of the house, looking after his new baby brother, taking care of his troubled mother, and seeking out his missing father."--Provided by publisher.

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

Eté 1962. Jack a douze ans, les grandes vacances commencent et, suite à un malencontreux accident, le garçon est privé de sorties. Le voilà contraint de lire des livres sur les civilisations disparues et de creuser pour son père un abri antiatomique dans le jardin. Il a cependant le droit d''aider une adorable vieille voisine à rédiger pour le journal local la rubrique nécrologique. Les huit dernières habitantes originelles de la ville tombent en effet comme des mouches, à tel point que c''en devient louche... S''ensuivent pour Jack tout un tas de mésaventures hilarantes mettant en scène son père, chasseur et fan d''aviation, une dame d''un certain âge ayant à coeur de transmettre l''histoire méconnue des Etats-Unis, un fossoyeur prêt à enterrer la ville avec ses habitants, et une bande de Hells Angels sanguinaires... Un texte à l''humour formidable, qui parle beaucoup de mort, mais aussi et surtout d''idéal et de transmission !

Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, this Newbery Medal winner chronicles 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 parents. 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.

The sequel to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist. When Joey Pigza meets his dad for the first time in years, he meets a grown-up version of his old out-of-control self. Carter Pigza is as wired as Joey used to be -- before his stint in special ed, and before he got his new meds. Joey''s mom reluctantly agrees that he can stay with his dad for a summer visit, which sends Joey racing with sky-high hopes that he and Carter can finally get to know each other. But as the weeks whirl by, Carter has bigger plans in mind. He decides that just as he has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, Joey can do the same and become as normal as any kid, without the help of a doctor''s prescription. Carter believes Joey can do it and Joey wants to believe him more than anything in the world. Here is the continuation of the acclaimed Joey Pigza story, affirming not only that Joey Pigza is a true original but that it runs in the family. This title has Common Core connections. Joey Pigza Loses Control is a 2000 New York Times Book Review Notable Children''s Book of the Year and a 2001 Newbery Honor Book.

Jack isn’t like the Pagoda brothers. He knows the difference between fun and stupid. Launching yourself across the backyard in a makeshift Roman catapult? Fun. Smoking an entire pack of cigarettes as fast as possible? Stupid. But when it comes to emergency self-surgery…Jack still has something to learn. A short story from the acclaimed collection Guys Read: Funny Business, edited by Jon Scieszka.

From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, the uproarious final volume of Jack Henry stories According to his new motto—A WRITER''S JOB IS TO TURN HIS WORST EXPERIENCES INTO MONEY—Jack Gantos''s alter ego Jack Henry is going to be filty rich even before he gets out of junior high, for his life is filled with the worst experiences imaginable. For instance, in the course of the few months covered in this closing cycle of interlinked stories, Jack is humiliated by a gorgeous syncronized swimmer, gets a tattoo the size of an ant on his big toe, flubs an IQ test and nearly fails wood shop, and has to dig up his dead dog not once but twice. And that''s not the half of it! At the close of this final book of semi-autobiographical stories, Jack may not end up rolling in dough, but he will prove once again "a survivor, an ‘everyboy'' whose world may be wacko but whose heart and spirit are eminently sane" (School Library Journal). This title has Common Core connections.

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*

Joey''s world is turned upside down when his deadbeat dad wins the lottery.

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--it seems that Ab and Dolph have been compelled by a powerful mutual love for their deceased mother to do something extraordinary, something that in its own twisted way bridges the gap between the living and the dead. Immediately, Ivy''s discovery provokes the revelation of a Rumbaugh family curse, a curse that, as Ivy will learn over the coming years, holds a strange power over herself and her own mother. With gothic flavor and black humor, author Gantos depicts a group of people bound together by love, compulsion--and a passion for taxidermy.--From publisher description.

Hoping to beat his perfect cousin Percy in the cat show, Ralph allows Sarah to help him spruce up his image and get in shape, but it is only by being himself that victory can be his.

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 As the Henry family sets sail for a new life on Cape Hatteras, fourth-grader Jack is struggling to chart a course between his parents'' contradictory advice on making friends and influencing people. Just tell people what they want to hear, Dad advises. Just tell the truth, Mom cautions. Jack finds there are no easy answers as he drifts through his crazy school year, falling desperately in love with his young teacher, getting suckered into becoming a bad-behavior spy for the principal, and being forced to make a presentable pet out of a duck with backward feet. Indeed, with an airheaded, air-guitar-playing neighbor the closest thing to a friend, and a judgmental older sister his relentless enemy, it''s all he can do to stay afloat. This colorful and comic new collection of interrelated stories featuring the author''s hapless alter ego is the first of five books in the Jack Henry series, praised by Booklist for their "hilarious, exquisitely painful, and utterly on-target depiction" of a boy''s life. This title has Common Core connections.

Sarah wakes Ralph up with a great big kiss. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” she says. Rotten Ralph hides under his pillow. Sarah is very excited to take Ralph to Petunia’s Valentine’s Day Party. But Ralph will do almost anything to avoid the party and drippy Valentine kisses!

When his father rejoins the Navy and moves the family to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, ten-year-old Jack becomes confused by a crush on his teacher, contradictory advice from his parents, and a very strange neighbor.

Rotten Ralph comes to appreciate Sarah''s healthy cat food after he gets sick from eating out of trash cans.

In this dazzling conclusion to the Joey Pigza trilogy, 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.

In this Michael L. Printz Honor Book, the Newbery Honor-winning creator of the Joey Pigza books shares the true story of how he became a writer the hard way by learning a valuable lesson while he was in college.

Joey is a kid with hyperactivity problems. He cannot pay attention or control his behavior, but he is not a bad kid. His mother, the teacher and the doctor are tying to help him by prescribing him medications.

From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, nine semi-autobiographical stories that will make you laugh so hard it hurts In Jack on the Tracks, fifth-grader Jack Henry is hoping for fresh adventure when he moves to a new home in Miami with his family, but he can''t escape his old worrying ways. He worries about being fascinated with all things gross and disgusting. He worries about his crazy French-obsessed schoolteacher. And most of all he worries about worrying so much. In this cycle of interrelated stories, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, if only Jack can get on the right track to survive his outrageous year. This title has Common Core connections.

Ray Jakes croyait bien avoir tout subi en sortant de prison où on l''avait envoyé pour trafic de drogue. Mais quand on a comme compagnon un gros cinglé qui se prend pour Elvis Presley, la liberté peut devenir pire que la détention... Infiniment pire...

Santa Claus is coming to town and Rotten Ralph is determined to make a purr-fect impression.

"Nothing can scare me!" shouts Ralph -- not even a creaky, old haunted house on Halloween. Ralph wanders through the monster mansion and unbolts Frankenstien''s head, grosses out a ghoul, and drinks a vampire''s mug o''blood. But the fright-fest isn''t over just yet... Ralph''s friend Sarah has saved the best spine-tingler for last. Peel back the flaps in this spooktacular gatefold book to see all of Rotten Ralph''s hilarious Halloween tricks!

When his father moves the family to Barbados, Jack learns that life is not always idyllic on an island paradise.