LUNCH LADY AND THE CYBORG SUBSTITUTE

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY

Krosoczka, Jarrett. 2009. LUNCH LADY AND THE CYBORG SUBSTITUTE. New York, NY: Random House.  ISBN 978-0-375-94683-7

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

The school lunch lady, who is really a secret crime-fighting superhero with a sidekick who creates super-gadgets, uncovers a wicked plot to substitute all of the school’s favorite teachers one-by-one with robots.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Classmates Terrence, Dee, and Hector repeatedly speculate about the life of the school’s lunch lady in Kroskozka’s super silly graphic novel Lunch Lady series. Set in an elementary school that includes the stereotypical bullies who take lunch money from wimpy kids, the secret superhero lunch lady, thought to “live with 100 cats,” uncovers a plot by an evil teacher to replace the school’s favorite teachers with cyborgs. The lunch lady’s sidekick, Betty, creates gadgets such as a helicopter-spatula that, with the help of the three curious students, aid in her crime fighting pursuit. With very few words on each page and simple bold drawings in black and yellow ink, this comic-strip story still manages to deliver character development as Hector’s experience fighting the robots enables him to develop the courage to face up to the lunchroom bully. The graphics in the climax of the story are reminiscent of the 1960’s Batman and Robin television show with the words BOOM! or CRASH! splashed across the page as the heroes fight the villains. Written for seven to ten year olds but on a first grade reading level, the humorous puns give the otherwise predictable story a much-needed boost, and the suspicious prison visit at the end leaves the door open for future mysterious mischief.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

REVIEW: KIRKUS: “Filled with goofy puns and grayscale art with cheery yellow accents, this is a delightfully fun escapist read.”

LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION: “ With only a few words per page, this cute graphic novel would make an excellent read-aloud.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “With plenty of silliness and slapstick in the text and panel art alike, this comic should alleviate lunch-line boredom with visions of servers wielding fishstick-nunchucks and growling, ‘today’ special is a knuckle sandwich.’”

5. CONNECTIONS

Though oversimplified, the text has the elements of a mystery, which could easily be pointed out. Students could then complete a prewriting graphic organizer to create their own mini-mysteries, after which they would compose their own brief graphic novel mysteries. Later, the students read more complex mysteries suitable to each student’s reading level.

Learn more about the author and his works at:  http://www.studiojjk.com/

Others from the Lunch Lady series:

LUNCH LADY AND THE FIELD TRIP FIASCO, ISBN:  978-0375867309

LUNCH LADY AND THE AUTHOR VISIT VENDETTA, ISBN: 978-0375860942

LUNCH LADY AND THE BAKE SALE BANDIT, ISBN: 978-0375867293

LUNCH LADY AND THE LEAGUE OF LIBRARIANS, ISBN: 978-0375846847

LUNCH LADY AND THE SUMMER CAMP SHAKEDOWN, ISBN: 978-0375860959