Hidden Files of Joey Pigza Books in Order

The Hidden Files of Joey Pigza is a later offshoot of the main Joey books, built around two shorter audio adventures that keep Joey's voice front and center. The scale is smaller than in the novels, but the emotional world is the same: Joey is impulsive, funny, easily overwhelmed, and always trying harder than most people realize.

Joey is still the same kid readers meet in Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a boy with ADHD, huge feelings, and a running inner monologue that can flip from panic to comedy in a heartbeat. He wants to do well. He wants adults to trust him. He wants to believe that caring a lot is enough to fix what is broken around him.

Pablo matters.

In The Dented Head of Joey Pigza, Joey throws himself into racing and competition, only to learn that grit does not protect him from pain or embarrassment. In A Pain in the Pigza, the action turns toward dogs, animal rescue, and Joey's deep bond with his chihuahua Pablo. Both stories use outward chaos, a crash, a shelter event, wild costumes, to get at something more personal: Joey's fear of failing the people and animals he loves.

Family trouble is never far away in this corner of Joey's world. Adults are unreliable, overmatched, absent, or in trouble themselves, and Joey is left to sort through feelings that are much bigger than he is. His grandmother is a vivid presence, Pablo is steady company, and Joey keeps trying to act brave even when he feels marked by everything that has happened to his family.

These stories move fast.

Because the books were created as audio originals and narrated by Gantos, they lean hard into rhythm, voice, and momentum. Joey sounds like himself the whole way through, quick, hopeful, self-mocking, and a little breathless. That makes the humor land, but it also lets the quiet hurt sneak up on you.

What links the two books is not a giant mystery or one single plot. It is Joey's ongoing effort to stay kind, useful, and himself in a life that keeps knocking him sideways. If you like middle grade stories that are funny on the surface and tender underneath, this short branch of the Joey Pigza world gives you exactly that.