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Summary
Summary
Join the millions of readers who have discovered The Pigman, the beloved bestselling young adult classic from Paul Zindel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
The Pigman is the perfect read for fans of modern classics like The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.
When high school sophomores John and Lorraine made a prank phone call to an elderly stranger named Angelo Pignati, what starts as a practical joke quickly turns into a friendship that changes all of their lives forever. But when their friendship ends in tragedy, the only way for John and Lorraine to find peace is to write down their friend's story--the true story of the Pigman.
"Headline news...remarkable...Zindel has written a story that will not be denied." --Publishers Weekly
"An intensely moving story of believably alienated young people." --School Library Journal
Author Notes
Paul Zindel Born on Staten Island, New York, Zindel was raised by a single mother who pursued a variety of odd and mostly unsuccessful jobs and took in terminally ill patients to supplement the family income. Due to her eccentricity and restlessness, the mother moved the family from one apartment to another, making it difficult for Zindel to form lasting friendships. As a consequence, the boy lived in the world of his imagination, developing interests in both science and writing. Zindel majored in chemistry at Wagner College on Staten Island, completing both bachelors and masters degrees. During this period he also took a creative-writing course offered by the playwright Edward Albee. After college he worked briefly as a technical writer for a chemical company and then discovered a more fulfilling vocation as a teacher of chemistry and physics at a Staten Island high school. It was during this period in the early 1960s that Zindel was able to develop his potential as a playwright by drawing on his own background as well as the experiences of his young students. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds premiered at the Alley Theater in Houston in 1965, was presented in a condensed version on television the following year, and finally opened off-Broadway at the Mercer-O'Casey Theater in 1970. Because of a fire in the theater, the play was moved, with a new cast, to the New Theater on Broadway, where it ran for a total of 819 performances. In addition to being enormously popular, Gamma Rays earned in 1970 an Obie Award as the best play of the season, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as the best American play, and the Vernon Rice Drama Desk Award for most promising playwright. In 1971 the play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Gamma Rays is the story of an embittered, half-mad widow, Beatrice Hunsdorfer; her teenaged daughters, Ruth and Tillie; and Nanny, a decrepit old woman who boards with them. The family lives in chaos, with Beatrice dealing out petty vengeance to everyone. Nanny has been abandoned by her daughter. Ruth is wanton, untidy, and subject to seizures. Tillie, however, has become interested in science and enters her marigold experiment in the science fair; by exposing the marigold seeds to radiation, she shows that some produce normal plants, others produce mutations with beautiful double blooms, while still others die. The metaphor, of course, is that Tillie has emerged from her chaotic environment as a beautiful and whole person, a human "double bloom." Zindel's other plays include And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971), The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild(1973), Let Me Hear You Whisper (1973), and Ladies at the Alamo(1975). While these plays continue to show Zindel's skill in writing excellent roles for women, none of them have matched the critical and popular success of Gamma Rays. Since the late 1960s, Zindel has also written several novels for young adults. The Pigman (1968), which is about a lonely widower and two destructive teenagers, has sold more than 1 million copies. His other novels include My Darling, My Hamburger (1969), I Never Loved Your Mind (1970), Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball (1976), Confessions of a Teenage Baboon (1977), and The Undertaker's Gone Bananas (1978). As in Gamma Rays, these works display not only a penchant for grotesque humor but an uncanny awareness of the problems of teenagers. Zindel's works, which also include several screenplays, explore the themes of loneliness, escapism, and eccentricity. His best works are humorous, perceptive, and warm; they present an affirmation of life emerging from desperate and grotesque circumstances. He is especially noted for his excellent women's roles, which has helped sustain him as a best-selling playwright for school and community groups. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the publication of Paul Zindel's award-winning novel, The Pigman (HarperCollins, 1968), Zindel's son David has produced audiobook versions of The Pigman and The Pigman's Legacy (Harper, 1980). In the first title, as a result of a phone prank, high school sophomores John and Lorraine become friends with Mr. Pignati (the Pigman), an elderly widower. The conflicted teens feel alienated from everything, but the Pigman's enthusiasm for life soon spills over onto them. John and Lorraine go roller skating with their new friend, and he suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized. The teens have a party at the Pigman's house, and his pig collection and some of his late wife's clothes are destroyed. When Mr. Pignati comes home unexpectedly, he's distraught and feels betrayed by the teens. They try to make it up to him by taking him to the zoo, where he learns that his beloved gorilla, Bobo, has died. This trauma causes the Pigman to have a fatal heart attack. In The Pigman's Legacy, John and Lorraine discover that a homeless man is living in Mr. Pignati's abandoned house. Thinking that this is a chance for them to make up for what happened to the Pigman, they try to befriend the surly old man. After to Atlantic City to cheer up the man, they discover that the true legacy of the Pigman is love. Both stories are told in chapters that alternate between John and Lorraine's point of view, narrated by Charlie McWade and Eden Riegel who do an outstanding job of bringing the characters to life. An added bonus is a fascinating interview with Paul Zindel discussing his craft. These remarkable audiobooks, which still offer important messages to today's teens, are a must-have for high school and public libraries.-Kathy Miller, Baldwin High School Baldwin City, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Read by Eden Riegel and Charlie McWade. (High School)In Zindel's seminal young adult novel The Pigman, high school pals John, a mischievous dreamboat, and Lorraine, a self-conscious plain Jane, befriend then spectacularly betray a lonely old man named Mr. Pignati. In The Pigman's Legacy, they find Gus, a.k.a. "the Colonel," squatting in Mr. Pignati's house. Aside from a few details (the use of a typewriter, John's roller-skating prowess), the texts are remarkably undated. In the shifting narration, Eden Riegel as Lorraine is earnest and eager to please, with moments of self-awareness and assertiveness. Charlie McWade voices John as cocky, petulant, and occasionally sincere; the visual joke of "@#$%" standing in for swears, at Lorraine's insistence, is just as funny when performed by McWade as it is on the page. These audio editions commemorate the fortieth anniversary of The Pigman's publication in 1968 (the sequel was published in 1980), but both stories' enduring themes -- loyalty, friendship, alienation -- are entirely relevant to a contemporary audience. [Review covers these titles: The Pigman and The Pigman's Legacy]From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
John and Lorraine, sophomores in high school, tell the tragic story of their friendship with a lonely old man whom they love and destroy. Nothin' But the Best: Best of the Best Books for Young Adults, 1966-1986 is available in pamphlet form (ISBN: 0-8389-7274-8) from ALA Graphics, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Pamphlets are $20 for 100 copies. Single copies are available from the Young Adult Services Division, ALA, at 50 cents each with a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Excerpts
Excerpts
The Pigman Chapter One Now, I don't like school, which you might say is one of the factors that got-us involved with this old guy we nicknamed the Pigman. Actually, I hate school, but then again most of the time I hate everything. I used to really hate school when I first started at Franklin High. I hated it so much the first year they called me the Bathroom Bomber. Other kids got elected G.O. President and class secretary and lab-squad captain, but I got elected the Bathroom Bomber. They called me that because I used to set off bombs in the bathroom. I set off twenty-three bombs before I didn't feel like doing it anymore. The reason I never got caught was because I used to take a tin can (that's a firecracker, as if you didn't know) and mold a piece of clay around it so it'd hold a candle attached to the fuse. One of those skinny little birthday candles. Then I'd light the thing, and it'd take about eight minutes before the fuse got lit. I always put the bombs in the first-floor boys' john right behind one of the porcelain unmentionables where nobody could see it. Then I'd go off to my next class. No matter where I was in the building I could hear the blast. If I got all involved, I'd forget I had lit the bomb, and then even I'd be surprised when it went off. Of course, I was never as surprised as the poor guys who were in the boys' john on the first floor sneaking a cigarette, because the boys' john is right next to the Dean's office and a whole flock of gestapo would race in there and blame them. Sure they didn't do it, but it's pretty hard to say you're innocent when you're caught with a lungful of rich, mellow tobacco smoke. When the Dean catches you smoking, it really may be hazardous to your health. I smoke one with a recessed filter myself. After my bomb avocation, I became the organizer of the supercolossal fruit roll. You could only do this on Wednesdays because that was the only day they sold old apples in the cafeteria. Sick, undernourished, antique apples. They sold old oranges on Fridays, but they weren't as good because they don't make much noise when you roll them. But on Wednesdays when I knew there was going to be a substitute teaching one of the classes, I'd pass the word at lunch and all the kids in that class would buy these scrawny apples. Then we'd take them to class and wait for the right moment -like when the substitute was writing on the blackboard. You couldn't depend on a substitute to write on the blackboard though, because usually they just told you to take a study period so they didn't have to do any work and could just sit at the desk reading The New York Times. But you could depend on the substitute to be mildly retarded, so I'd pick out the right moment and clear my throat quite loudly-which was the signal for everyone to get the apples out. Then I gave this phony sneeze that meant to hold them down near the floor. When I whistled, that was the signal to roll 'em. Did you ever hear a herd of buffalo stampeding? Thirtyfour scrawny, undernourished apples rolling up the aisles sound just like a herd of buffalo stampeding. Every one of the fruit rolls was successful, except for the time we had a retired postman for General Science 1H5. We were supposed to study incandescent lamps, but he spent the period telling us about commemorative stamps. He was so enthusiastic about the old days at the P.O. I just didn't have the heart to give the signals, and the kids were a little put out because they all got stuck with old apples. But I gave up all that kid stuff now that I'm a sophomore. The only thing I do now that is faintly criminal is write on desks. Like right this minute I f eel like writing something on the nice polished table here, and since the Cricket is down at the other end of the library showing some four-eyed dimwit how to use the encyclopedias, I'm going to do it. Now that I've artistically expressed myself, we might as well get this cursing thing over with too. I was a little annoyed at first since I was the one who suggested writing this thing because I couldn't stand the miserable look on Lorraine's face ever since the Pigman died. She looked a little bit like a Saint Bernard that just lost its keg, but since she agreed to work on this, she's gotten a little livelier and more opinionated. One of her opinions is that I shouldn't curse. "Not in a memorial epic!" "Let's face it," I said, "everyone curses." She finally said I could curse if it was excruciatingly necessary by going like this @#$%. Now that isn't too bad an idea because @#$% leaves it to the imagination and most people have 6 worse imagination than I have. So I figure I'll go like @#$% if it's a mild curse-like the kind you hear in the movies when everyone makes believe they're morally violated but have really gotten the thrill of a lifetime. If it's going to be a revolting curse, I'll just put a three in front of it -like 3@#$% -- and then you'll know it's the raunchiest curse you can think of. just now I'd better explain why we call Miss Reillen the Cricket. Like I told you, she's the librarian at Franklin and is letting us type this... The Pigman . Copyright © by Paul Zindel. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from The Pigman by Paul Zindel All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
