This last installment is the darkest book in the Pigza series. Joey always makes me laugh but there's always the dark undercurrent in these stories. Joey grows up a little more in each book and Gantos always leaves us with hope that if not all will be well with Joey, it will be as good as he and his dysfunctional family can make it. I will be interested to see how my 6th graders take to this one. I certainly have some who are living Joey's life in one way or another. 
 Lane Smith's new cover art for the series is a win.