Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
	Author:	Gantos, Jack
	Date Published:	1998
	Genre:	Humor
	Grade Level:	5 - 8
	Booktalker:	Susan Bartel

Booktalk:
My name is Joey Pigza. Usually I wake up with springs popping in my head, like I’m in the middle of a pinball game where I’m the ball, and I shoot out of bed and directly to the kitchen where I ricochet around after food until by chance I snatch some toast off the counter, then slamming off the padded stool tops like they were lighted bumpers and zing up the hall and into the bathroom where I try to brush my teeth, but I brush mostly my lips and chin and then I explode back out the door and across the living room and carom off the furniture until mom gets a grip on me and works a pill down my throat. If the meds are working I begin to settle down real well and we laugh because I’ve just gone from being Ricochet Rabbit to Charlie Brown in no time flat. One time the teacher gave me a box of pencils to sharpen and I sharpened every one down to the end. Then I sharpened the chalk and then a popsicle stick and then I turned the holes around until I could fit my little finger in the hole and I tried to sharpen my finger. My nail was hanging off and I had to go see the nurse. I’m not a bad kid, but because I’m wired bad, lots of stuff happens to me that doesn’t happen to other kids. Like I keep my house key on a string around my neck. And one day I was sucking on the key and wondered what would happen if I swallowed the key. I did and then I could pull it back up by the string! The other kids thought that was pretty cool cuz it had food stuck to it and everything. It hurt my throat a little bit. To find out about some of the other whacked out stuff that’s happened to me, like the time I ate a whole pie or sliced the tip off the nose of a girl in my class – accidentally!, see if you can sit still long enough to read