Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitutes (Lunch Lady #1)

  I attended a graphic novel panel featuring Jarrett Krosoczka, Raina Telegeimer, and Doug TenNapel at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference this past July. I loved hearing how graphic novelists create their works, which in many ways isn't very different than writing your traditional book. While at the panel, I suddenly realized that I've read Telegeimer and TenNapel before but I haven't read anything by Krosoczka yet though I did have his Lunch Lady series on my to be read pile for quite sometime. I decided that I needed to fix that right away. There are currently 10 volumes of the Lunch Lady out.

Description: Serving justice . . . and lunch!
Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady. What does she do when she isn't dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home? Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn't just serve sloppy joes—she serves justice! Whatever danger lies ahead, it’s no match for Lunch Lady!

Review: Superheroes have been all the rage. The idea of what seem to be ordinary people with extraordinary powers is what appeals to most about superheroes. Krosoczka picks the most unlikely person to be a superhero/undercover agent: a lunch lady. You're probably thinking "Really? Out of everyone that he could have possibly picked, he picked her?" but trust me it works and it works very well. If I may grab a quote from one of my all time favorite movies, The Breakfast Club, the Lunch Lady is "the eyes and hears of the institution" and picks up on any weirdness that surrounds the school, especially when one of the most popular math teachers who is always present is suddenly had a serious sickness and had to call in for a substitute who acts a lot like a robot.
  With her gadgets of a lunch tray laptop and her helicopter spork, the Lunch Lady uncovers a conspiracy and saves the school children from evil cyborg substitutes. I had a blast reading the first volume of this graphic novel series. The Lunch Lady's gadgets were so creative and I couldn't stop chuckling throughout the book. The panels and texts are large enough and easy to read. I finished it very quickly and immediately wanted to pick up the next volumes in the series. This series can easily attract both male and female readers. It has plenty of actions, punchlines, and above all characters that you can easily root for and want to see again and again. I definitely recommended picking up this series if you're interested in children graphic novels.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: None. Recommended for Grades 1-3

If you like this book try: Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians (Lunch Lady #2), Knights of the Lunch Table series by Frank Cammuso