24. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Random House Children's Books, 2009

Genre
Adventure, Graphic Novel, Humor

Awards

• Kid's Indie Next List "Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers" Winner (2009)
• IRA Children's Choices: Young Readers (2010)
• Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices Winner (2010)
• New York Stated Charlotte Award Nominee (2012)

Review
A group of three students, The Breakfast Bunch, discuss with each other what their lunch lady does outside of work.  Mostly they speculate that she has a lot of cats, but one of them jokingly suggests she's a secret agent! If only he knew how close the truth he was.  The lunch lady has a secret lair in the "boiler room", concealed by a large sliding fridge in the school kitchen.  Here she tests out new gadgets made by her assistant lunch lady, like the Spatu-copter (a helicopter spatula), Chicken Nugget Bombs, and Fish Stick Nunchucks, and monitors classrooms on her her huge monitor with secret cameras (Milk-cams).  In this first installment in the Lunch Lady series, she battles evil robots lead by a cyborg substitute teacher.  All these mechanical villains were created by a disliked science teacher to send away the most liked teachers in the school and replace them with cyborg substitutes that made the students do so much extra work, they would all end up liking the science teacher the best, and vote to give him the Best Teacher of the Year award.  When the Lunch Lady learns that there is something fishy going on with the new sub, she follows him after school (with the Breakfast Bunch following her to see what she really did after school was over).  Here the Lunch Lady and the children are surrounded by the robot army, but are saved by the Lunch Lady's food-weapons and one of the children's science projects.  The book ends with a cliff hanger, promising more food fights in the future.

Opinion
This is a funny little story that may have students thinking about what their teachers, school janitors, or bus drivers do after work! The story incorporates a school figure that students probably don't think about too often.  The author had very creative ways to incorporate school lunch food into funny weapons and used Batman's Batcave from the cartoons as a heavy influence on the Lunch Lady's lair, making it easily recognizable to comic book and cartoon fans.

Ideas
Having readers write a short story or draw out their own short comic strip may be a fun project.  There is also a secondary story involving a boy in the Breakfast Bunch being bullied, but learning to stand up for himself.  Despite it being a secondary element, it could still have an impact on students concerned with bullying.

16. When You Are Happy

When You Are Happy
By Eileen Spinelli
Illustrated by Geraldo Valério
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2006

Genre
Poetry, Picture Book

Awards
None Known

Review
This book follow a child through all the feelings she might have, with presumably a parent or loved one speaking to her about how they will always cheer her up when she is sad, care for her when she is sick, finder her when she is lost, and laugh with her when she is happy.  The wonderful illustrations show the girl and her family members, as well as a doll (who also has a doll of its own!).  They beautifully depict the words of the poem and are spread over one or two pages for each section of the poem.  Spinelli's warm poem mixed with Valério unique illustrations provide a comforting feeling to the reader throughout the book that lasts long after closing the cover.

Opinion
I loved this book! I wanted to purchase a copy for myself because of how cute it was and the warm, fuzzy feeling you had when you were done reading it.  The copy I had checked out from the library showed it was "much loved" and heavily read.  I think this could be one of those books that is a "comfort" book that younger children keep as they grow up to just read and reread.

Ideas
A great poetry book, definitely geared toward the younger end of tweens or younger, but with more words per page than some picture books I've seen.  The repetition makes it easy to read with a "When you are... I will..." pattern for much of the poem.  Much of the imagery in Spinelli's poem can be enjoyed by older readers as well (like "When you are cold, I will weave you a blanket from leftover sun."), but they may feel the book is childish with the type of illustrations done by Valério.

11. The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Warner Bros. Pictures, 2014

Genre
Adventure, Comedy

Honors
None known

Review
Vitruvius, a wizard in the Lego universe tries to stop the evil President Business from getting his hands on a weapon that could freeze the world as they knew it in place forever, the Kragle.  When he fails, he tells President Business of a prophecy, that one day, someone called "the Special" would find the Piece of Resistance and stop him from using the Kragle.  The Special would be "the most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the world".  Years later, Emmet is introduced. He is just your average construction worker in the Lego universe; he love all the popular things, loved to follow directions, and thought President Business was awesome! One night at his construction site, he falls down a hole and finds the Piece of Resistance, but passes out after seeing a vision of "the man upstairs".  When he wakes up, he doesn't remember what happened.  He is told by Bad Cop/Good Cop what happened and is then promptly rescued by WyldStyle, a girl who was looking for the Piece of Resistance.  When she realizes how ordinary Emmet is, she is dissappointed, but still takes him to see Vitruvius to see how they can save the world.  This unlikely hero changes the minds of everyone he groups up with (including Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, President Lincoln, the Green Lantern, a pirate made of junk named Metal Beard, Princess Unikitty, and Benny the astronaut), showing them that ordinary people can be "the Special" sometimes.

Opinion
I thought this was a cute movie with a sweet premise.  Younger tweens will love the super heroes and Legos while older tweens and adults will understand the interaction between the father and son later in the movie and enjoy the humor of Batman and how things are named.  The writers cleverly created a colorful and imaginative Lego universe on a table in a family's basement.

Ideas
This is a wonderful movie for all ages.  Parents are shown the creativity of their children may sometimes trump their preferred orderliness and routine.  Tweens are shown that everyone can be special sometimes.  They are also shown that there is a time for being creative and independant and a time for following directions to work together.