" Wow. Talk about disfunctional families. I got so angry reading this book! I wish I hadn't bothered with it. Joey's dad shows up again swearing he is a new man, and even after the outrageous fiasco of the last book, Joey's mom takes him back, and they just know that they will all live 'hapilly ever after' because Joey's dad won the lottery, and is now a whole new person. He even changes his name, and demands that they others do too. Joey's mom is all for it, but Joey really struggles with it. He knows who he is, and has just now become happy and comfortable in his own skin, and now they are taking that away from him. He isn't sure if he can forgive his dad for all the awful things he has done to him and his mom, but his mom DEMANDS that he get over himself and just do it. Joey's dad buys a diner and moves them out to it, making it so that Joey has to go to a new school, even though he finally fits in at the school, and the teachers and administration have finally learned how best to work with him. Then, when they try to enroll him in school, they run into a few tiny glitches, and rather than explain that he is Joey Pigza, now going by Freddie Heinz, they make Joey/Freddie sound crazy and just decide that he doesn't really need to go to school at all, and that it will just be better for him to hang out and help around the house and the diner that never actually gets started because Joey's dad doesn't want to have to deal with any kind of work.
I could go on and on and on about the horribly awful things that these 'parents' force on their poor son. Just as in the last book, I do really like Joey's character. He just tries so hard to understand his world, and fit in, and be good. He is a genuinely good kid who wants to do right by people and by himself. He's a great character, it's his parents that I can't stand. They are so focused on themselves that they forget being a parent means you are no longer allowed to put yourself first. Your children's well-being always comes before your own. Ugh. They make me so mad!! "
— Ashley, 2/7/2014