Joey Pigza suffers a variety of traumas within the first 10 years of his life. From earliest childhood, he realizes that he is “wired differently,” and he struggles to maintain academic focus and exhibits manic behavior. When he is in kindergarten, his biological mother and father abandon him to the care of his grandmother, who is an erratic and occasionally cruel caregiver. In the interim, even his most noble intentions go awry in school. For example, when he attempts to cut poster board into bumper stickers proclaiming, “Hate is Not a Family Value,” he collides with a classmate and accidentally cuts off the tip of her nose with scissors. When he attempts to visit her apologize, her father physical threatens him.

Nonetheless, Joey believes in the possibility of better days to come. He forgives the mother who abandoned him and the grandmother who sometimes abused him. He struggles with an ineffective medication that curbs his impulsivity early in the day but flags disappointingly every afternoon. While he struggles with self-esteem and sadness at times, he never succumbs entirely to despair. Joey is truly terrified of attending the Lancaster Special Education Center; however, he intuits that professionals such as “Special Ed,” Dr.